Staley v. Wilbur
| Decision Date | 02 March 1927 |
| Citation | 258 Mass. 481 |
| Parties | DELBERT M. STALEY v. SEAMON WILBUR. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
December 10, 1926.
Present: RUGG, C.
J., BRALEY, CROSBY PIERCE, & SANDERSON, JJ.
Motor Vehicle Registration, Operation. Trespass.
A motor vehicle being operated by the owner on a public way under a registration that, unknown to the owner, contained a wrong number as the engine number, is, by reason of the provisions of G.L.c. 90, Section 9, unlawfully upon the highway, and the owner cannot maintain an action of tort for damages resulting from a collision due to negligence of the defendant.
TORT, for damage to an automobile owned and operated by the plaintiff, alleged to be due to negligence of the defendant. Writ in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston dated January 6, 1926.
Rulings and facts appearing in the Municipal Court are stated in the opinion. The judge found for the plaintiff in the sum of $88.42 and reported the action to the Appellate Division, who ordered the report dismissed. The defendant appealed.
J.J. Mulcahy & W.C. Jainsen, for the defendant, submitted a brief. No argument nor brief for the plaintiff.
This is an action of tort brought in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston for damage to an automobile owned by the plaintiff. The judge refused to rule that the automobile was a trespasser on the highway; and, having found for the plaintiff, reported the case. It now comes before this court on appeal by the defendant from an order by the Appellate Division dismissing the report.
The automobile while being operated by the plaintiff, was damaged by the negligence of the defendant. Its engine number was two hundred ninety thousand, four hundred fifty-two; but on the plaintiff's registration the number given was five hundred seventy-four thousand, three hundred twenty-four. The plaintiff did not know of this error until after the accident.
Section 9 of G.L.c. 90 provides in part that "No person shall operate any motor vehicle . . . upon any way, unless such vehicle is registered in accordance with this chapter." Section 2 of that chapter provides that the application for registration "shall contain, in addition to such other particulars as may be required by the registrar, a statement of the name, place of residence and address of the applicant, with a brief description of the motor vehicle . . . including the name of the maker, the number, if any, affixed by the maker, the engine number. . . ."
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Cook v. Cole
...authority of G. L. c. 90, § 33, as amended. No misdescription of the truck at the time of registration was shown (Compare Staley v. Wilbur, 258 Mass. 481, 155 N. E. 659;Rosenthal v. Liss [Mass.] 169 N. E. 142) and the overloading did not effect such a material change in the truck that it wa......
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Cook v. Crowell
...was a trespasser, an outlaw and a public nuisance on the highway, if for any cause it was not properly registered. Staley v. Wilbur, 258 Mass. 481, 155 N. E. 659; St. 1928, c. 187, providing that ‘a motor vehicle or trailer shall be deemed to be registered in accordance with this chapter [G......
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Rosenthal v. Liss
...The first request for ruling ought to have been granted. The case on this aspect is governed by express authority. Staley v. Wilbur, 258 Mass. 481, 155 N. E. 659;Wallace v. New Bedford & Onset Street Railway Co., 259 Mass. 20, 155 N. E. 660;Di Franco v. West Boston Gas Co., 262 Mass. 387, 1......
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Franco v. West Boston Gas Co.
...under an erroneous engine number; its registration therefore was illegal and it was a trespasser upon the highway. Staley v. Wilbur, 258 Mass. 481, 155 N. E. 659;Wallace v. New Bedford & Onset Street Railway, 259 Mass. 20, 155 N. E. 660. As its presence on the highway was in itself unlawful......