Lebcowitz v. Simms
| Decision Date | 02 April 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 29660,29660 |
| Citation | 300 S.W.2d 827 |
| Parties | Julius LEBCOWITZ (Plaintiff), Respondent, v. Dennis SIMMS and Frank G. Kiddo, d/b/a Dennis Auto Sales, and Mound City Trust Company, Defendants, Dennis Simms and Frank G. Kiddo, Appellants. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Dan P. Reardon, Joseph G. Stewart, St. Louis, for appellants.
James F. Koester, St. Louis, for respondent.
WOLFE, Commissioner.
This is an action in which the plaintiff seeks actual and punitive damages and the cancellation of a note. The alleged damages arose out of the sale of an automobile to plaintiff by defendants Simms and Kiddo. The action against them is bottomed on a fraudulent failure to deliver a certificate of ownership at the time the automobile was purchased. The defendant Mound City Trust Company was the holder of the note that the plaintiff seeks to have cancelled. The note was given in payment of part of the purchase price of the automobile. The Mound City Trust Company counterclaimed for the balance due on the note.
The trial was to the court and resulted in a judgment for defendant Mound City Trust Company for a total of $927.50, including interest and attorney's fees. There was a judgment for the plaintiff against defendants Simms and Kiddo in the sum of $1,500 actual damages and $750 punitive damages. The plaintiff did not appeal from the judgment in favor of the Mound City Trust Company, but defendants Simms and Kiddo have appealed from the judgment against them.
The facts of the case are that on February 19, 1952, the plaintiff purchased a 1947 Chrysler automobile from Dennis Auto Sales, a trade name under which Simms and Kiddo did business as partners. The plaintiff paid $350 in cash and executed a note for $900 in payment for the car. The note was purchased from Dennis Auto Sales by Mound City Trust Company and the sum of $200 was paid subsequently by the plaintiff in monthly installments of $50 each as required by the note.
The sale was handled by defendant Kiddo and the plaintiff took the car as soon as he had paid for it. No certificate of ownership was given him but Kiddo stated that the certificate would be mailed the next day. Plaintiff did not receive the certificate, but he drove with dealer's license plates that Kiddo had loaned him. He had some work done on the car that cost him $300. The plaintiff testified that about ten days after he had possession of the automobile he telephoned Kiddo to inquire about the certificate of ownership. He told Kiddo that he had spent considerable money on the car and that if he could not get the title he would return it. He testified that he was advised by Kiddo that the title was in the mail. Again, eighteen days later he still had not received the title and he again telephoned Kiddo and told hom that he would have to take the car back as it was impossible to get insurance or a license for it, and Kiddo again told him that the title had been mailed to him. He made a third call about eight weeks later and was told then that the title was mailed or would be mailed right away. He continued to drive the car for about four months and then employed an attorney, who wrote defendants Simms and Kiddo the following letter:
'Please be informed that this office has been retained by Mr. Julius Lebcowitz to represent him in his action on account of a Chrysler automobile which Mr. Lebcowitz purchased from your firm on or about February 19, 1952.
It was agreed that the automobile had never been registered in the State of Missouri and defendant Simms offered proof that the car was purchased from a man in Tennessee where no registration of title was required. Kiddo was no longer connected with the business of the defendants and his whereabouts were unknown, but Simms testified that as soon as he received the letter from plaintiff's attorney he got the necessary papers and secured a Missouri title.
It is contended by the appellants that there was a binding and valid sale to the plaintiff because the automobile was not registered in the State of Missouri and the defendants were not required to give the plaintiff a certificate of ownership at the time of the sale. They reached this conclusion by their construction of Section 301.210 subd. 4, RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., which provides that 'the sale of any motor vehicle or trailer registered under the laws of this state' shall be fraudulent and void unless at the time of delivery a certificate of ownership properly assigned shall be given to the purchaser. They contend that the words quoted limit the section exclusively to motor vehicles that have been previously registered in the State of Missouri and the sale was therefore neither fraudulent nor void.
In construing the statute we cannot confine our scrutiny to the words quoted in the particular section, but we must blook to the purpose of the act and 'seek to arrive at the intention of the Legislature as disclosed, in part at least, by the objectives of the legislation.' Wellston Fire Protection Dist. of St. Louis County v. State Bank & Trust Co., Mo.App., 282 S.W.2d 171, loc. cit. 174; State ex rel. Spink v. Kemp, Mo., 283 S.W.2d 502; State ex rel Kirks v. Allen, Mo.App., 255 S.W.2d 144. One of the objectives of this legislation was to require a record of the ownership of motor vehicles sufficient to permit the ownership to be traced through the various sales of the vehicle and to determine title.
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