Holt Motors v. Casto

• Decision Date: 06 November 1951
• Docket Number: No. 10383,10383
• Citation: 67 S.E.2d 432,136 W.Va. 284
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: HOLT MOTORS, Inc. v. CASTO et al.

Page 432

67 S.E.2d 432

136 W.Va. 284

HOLT MOTORS, Inc. v. CASTO et al.

No. 10383.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted Sept. 11, 1951.

Decided Nov. 6, 1951.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. An assignment and delivery of a certificate of title to a motor vehicle, registered in another state, which is accompanied by delivery to the assignee of the motor vehicle in the state of registration, will be interpreted under the law governing the assignment of motor vehicles in that state.

2. A purchaser of a motor vehicle in this State, registered in another state, who, at the time of the purchase and delivery of the automobile in this State, receives from the vendor a certificate of title issued by the state of registration with an assignment on the back thereof, executed on the printed form prescribed by that state, is charged with notice of any patent defect in violation of the mandatory provisions of the motor vehicles statute of the state of registration. Such purchaser, though he gives a valuable consideration, is not a purchaser for value without notice.

3. The findings of fact of a trial chancellor, based on conflicting evidence, will not be disturbed on appeal, unless clearly wrong or against the plain preponderance of the evidence.

A. J. Lubliner, Bluefield, Burton, Shaffer & Griffith, and Joseph C. Shaffer, Jr., all of Princeton, for appellant.

Richardson, Hudgins & Hancock, Bluefield, for appellee.

RILEY, Judge.

Holt Motors, Inc., a corporation, filed its bill of complaint in the Circuit Court of Mercer County against Kenneth C. Casto, trading as Bluefield Trading Center, and Roscoe J. Thomas, praying, among other things, for an injunction restraining the defendant, Kenneth C. Casto, from removing from the State of West Virginia a certain 1949 Mercury automobile, which defendant, Thomas, had purchased from plaintiff on the basis of Thomas' check, later dishonored, in the amount of $2,475, covering the purchase of said automobile, which automobile was later sold for cash to the defendant Casto. The bill of complaint further prays that Casto be required to furnish a forthcoming bond, or that the Sheriff of Mercer County take possession of the automobile until such bond be given, or until the further order of the court; and that the defendant Casto be required to deliver the automobile to the plaintiff.

The defendant Casto filed his answer denying knowledge of any wrong on the part of the defendant Thomas, and alleging that he was a purchaser for value of the automobile without notice, and that he is the legal and lawful owner thereof. The defendant Casto further charges in his answer that the plaintiff was negligent and guilty of inequitable conduct, and, therefore, not entitled to the relief prayed for in the bill of complaint.

Pendente lite the circuit court on December 23, 1948, awarded plaintiff a temporary injunction, and ordered the Sheriff of Mercer County to take possession of the automobile until bond should be given or until the further order of the court. Pursuant to this decree the sheriff took possession of the automobile, and held the same until September 8, 1949, when the court decreed that plaintiff might take the automobile and sell the same upon the deposit of sixteen hundred dollars to be held in escrow, which was the value of the automobile at that time.

The defendant Thomas made no appearance in the suit, and service was had as to him only by order of publication.

At the conclusion of the evidence adduced on behalf of the plaintiff, the court overruled Casto's motions to dissolve the injunction, dismiss plaintiff's bill of complaint, and enter a decree on defendant's answer. After completion of all the evidence, the court, in the final decree complained of, decreed that Holt Motors, Inc., was entitled to ownership of the automobile; that the defendant Casto was not a purchaser for value without notice; and that the plaintiff is entitled to recover the sum of sixteen hundred dollars held in escrow instead of the automobile and $769.95, as damages for the deterioration in value of the automobile.

The defendant Thomas, who lived in or near Pulaski, Virginia, having inquired of the defendant Casto, a dealer in used cars at Bluefield, West Virginia, whether the latter would buy a Mercury automobile which Thomas told Casto he thought he could obtain at Pulaski, Virginia, Thomas, on the evening of December 9, 1948, after banking hours, went to plaintiff's place of business in Pulaski, where the plaintiff was engaged in the business of selling Mercury automobiles. There Thomas F. Holt, plaintiff's vice president, sold the Mercury automobile involved in this suit to the defendant Thomas for the sum of $2,475. This automobile was a used car, and had previously been sold by plaintiff to Mrs. Grace Martin Guthrie as a new car for $2,369.90.

Plaintiff's evidence shows that in November, 1948, prior to the sale of the automobile in question in this suit, the defendant, Roscoe J. Thomas, had acted as the agent of plaintiff corporation in the sale of an automobile to the defendant, Kenneth C. Casto.

Thomas purported to pay for the automobile by a check, which was returned unpaid by the bank, with the notation that Thomas had no account therein. On the basis of this check the plaintiff delivered the automobile to the defendant, Thomas, together with the certificate of title, which, according to plaintiff's evidence, was intended to completely assign the automobile to the defendant Thomas. The certificate of title, having been lost or stolen, was not available for examination at the time of the trial, so it became necessary to rely solely on oral evidence to determine the sufficiency of the certificate. On this question the evidence is in total conflict. According to plaintiff the acknowledgment of the assignor, Holt Motors, Inc., was not notarized.

Casto alleges in his sworn answer that the certificate of title was properly acknowledged and executed by all parties, including the former owner, Mrs. Guthrie, and that the title 'was likewise executed by Thomas Motor Sales by the defendant, Roscoe J. Thomas, and properly and duly and legally signed and acknowledged before a Notary Public in Mercer County'.

Casto told the Virginia State Troopers that the title had been assigned to Holt Motors, Inc., and by that corporation assigned to Thomas, but upon being advised by the officers that title could not be assigned twice, he then told them that the name Holt Motors, Inc., did not appear on the certificate, and that it was assigned directly from the former owner, Mrs. Guthrie, to Thomas Motor Company. Later in August, 1949, Casto testified that title had been assigned by Mrs. Guthrie to Holt Motors, Inc.; that the latter then executed the second space on the back of the certificate, which provides for 'reassignment by Registered Dealer', but left the name of the person to whom the title was assigned blank; and that Thomas did not sign the certificate but merely endorsed Casto's check for the purchase of the automobile.

In Casto's brief it is stated that Casto paid Thomas twenty-one hundred dollars for the automobile, but his testimony shows that the purchase price was either $2,150 or $2,200. After obtaining the car from Thomas, Casto sold it to one Smith, but, having been advised that there was some irregularity as to the title, Casto proceeded to recover the automobile from Smith, assigning in his answer as the reason therefor that the title had been lost, so that he was 'unable to secure for that reason a new title * * * from the State of West Virginia, and * * * unable to deliver a good title to * * * Irvin H. Smith.'

The evidence discloses that Thomas' check was returned unpaid, and that Isaac French Holt went to Casto, who at that time was living at the Matz Hotel in Bluefield, in an endeavor to locate the automobile, but Casto refused to disclose its whereabouts. Later said Holt sought the aid of the Virginia State Police, the West Virginia Department of Public Safety, and the Bluefield Police Department. The officers went to the Matz Hotel,...