Munz v. Harnett

• Decision Date: 20 December 1933
• Parties: MUNZ v. HARNETT, Commissioner of Motor Vehicle Bureau.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

6 F. Supp. 158

MUNZ v. HARNETT, Commissioner of Motor Vehicle Bureau.

District Court, S. D. New York.

December 20, 1933.

Samuel Dinerman, of New York City, for plaintiff.

The Attorney General, for defendant.

Before MANTON, Circuit Judge, and COXE, and PATTERSON, District Judges, constituting a statutory court, convened pursuant to section 266 of the Judicial Code, as amended (28 USCA § 380).

PATTERSON, District Judge.

Suit is brought to restrain the commissioner of motor vehicles of the state of New York from suspending the plaintiff's license as a chauffeur and his registration certificate as owner of an automobile. An application for a preliminary injunction came on before a court composed of three judges, pursuant to section 266 of the Judicial Code (28 US CA § 380).

A New York statute provides that where judgment on account of death or injuries to person or property resulting from the ownership, use, or operation of a motor vehicle shall be entered against a person, his chauffeur's license and his registration certificates shall be suspended until the judgment is "satisfied or discharged, except by a discharge in bankruptcy," at least up to minimum amounts specified in the statute, and also until he gives proof of ability to respond in damages for future accidents in the manner specified in the statute. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law (Consol. Laws, c. 71), § 94-b.¹

It is shown that the plaintiff is a licensed chauffeur; that one Burke recovered judgment for $1,750 against him in an action for personal injuries arising out of his negligent operation of an automobile; that thereafter he was adjudicated a bankrupt, filed schedules in which the judgment in favor of Burke was listed as a liability, and was granted a discharge; and that he tendered to the commissioner of motor vehicles an insurance policy as evidence of his financial ability to pay damages for future accidents, but the tender was rejected on the ground that the plaintiff must first show payment of the judgment. It is further alleged that the commissioner will suspend the plaintiff's license under color of the statute referred to unless restrained in this suit, a charge which the commissioner admits. No payment on account of the judgment has been made.

It is claimed that the statute in its entirety is unconstitutional by reason of the Fourteenth Amendment, as depriving the plaintiff of his chance to earn a living as a chauffeur and of his right to own an automobile. We are of opinion that there is no merit in the point.

The ever-increasing use of the highways by those operating motor vehicles is attended by serious dangers of bodily harm and death. In an effort to minimize this menace to public safety, a state as an exercise of the police power may prescribe uniform regulations covering the ownership and operation of these vehicles. Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U. S. 610, 35 S. Ct. 140, 59 L. Ed. 385; Kane v. New Jersey, 242 U. S. 160, 37 S. Ct. 30, 61 L. Ed. 222; Bradley v. Public Utilities Commission, 289 U. S. 92, 53 S. Ct. 577, 77 L. Ed. 1053, 85 A. L. R. 1131. One of the common requirements is that of registration of motor vehicles, and there cannot be the slightest doubt of the validity of this requirement. Hendrick v. Maryland, supra. So too as to the requirement of a license for chauffeurs and operators. And a state has power to require the furnishing of liability insurance prior to the issuance of a license, as a measure of protecting those who use the highways. Packard v. Banton, 264 U. S. 140, 44 S. Ct. 257, 68 L. Ed. 596; Sprout v. South Bend, 277 U. S. 163, 48 S. Ct. 502, 72 L. Ed. 833, 62 A. L. R. 45; Hodge Co. v. Cincinnati, 284 U. S. 335, 52 S. Ct. 144, 76 L. Ed. 323; Continental Baking Co. v. Woodring, 286 U. S. 352, 365, 52 S. Ct. 595, 76 L. Ed. 1155, 81 A. L. R. 1402; Hicklin v. Coney, 290 U. S. 169, 54 S. Ct. 142, 78 L. Ed. 247, decided by the Supreme Court on December 4, 1933; Opinion of the Justices, 81 N. H. 566, 129 A. 117, 39 A. L. R. 1023.

The statute under attack is of the same general character as the compulsory insurance acts. It suspends the license of a person who has not satisfied a judgment for injuries resulting from his negligent operation of an automobile until the judgment shall have been at least partially satisfied and until proof of ability to pay in the future shall have been furnished. The New York Legislature may well have considered that such a regulation would have a tendency to reduce casualties on the roads by making owners and operators of automobiles exercise greater care than formerly in order to prevent the entry of such judgments against them. The means adopted by the Legislature have a reasonable, substantial relation to the end in view, public safety on the highway, which is equivalent to saying that the act is a valid exercise of the police power. Morris v. Duby, 274 U. S. 135, 47 S. Ct. 548, 71 L. Ed. 966; Standard Oil Co. v. Marysville, 279 U. S. 582, 586, 49 S. Ct. 430, 73 L. Ed. 856; Sproles v. Binford, 286 U. S. 374, 388-389, 52 S. Ct. 581, 76 L. Ed. 1167.

Statutes similar in all respects to this one, except that they contain no express mention of discharge in bankruptcy, have been sustained in Massachusetts and California. Opinion of the Justices, 251 Mass. 617, 147 N. E. 680; Watson v. Division of Motor Vehicles, 212 Cal. 279, 298 P. 481.

We pass to the other ground of attack, that the statute is in contravention to the Bankruptcy Act (see 11 USCA) because it provides that a discharge in bankruptcy shall not be deemed a satisfaction of the judgment in so far as the suspension of license is concerned. This clause was probably inserted from superabundance of caution, for a discharge in bankruptcy has never been regarded as a satisfaction of a judgment against the bankrupt. It goes only to bar the judgment creditor's civil remedies to collect the judgment. Dimock v. Revere Copper Co., 117 U. S. 559, 6 S. Ct. 855, 29 L. Ed. 994; In re Weisberg (D. C.) 253 F. 833; Citizens' Loan Association v. Boston & Maine R. Co., 196 Mass. 528, 82 N. E. 696, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1025, 124 Am. St. Rep. 584, 13 Ann. Cas. 365; Evans v. Staalle, 88 Minn. 253, 92 N. W. 951. It is argued that the effect of the act is to supply the judgment creditor with a remedy to compel...