Temple v. Middlesex & B. St. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 13 March 1922 |
| Citation | 241 Mass. 124,134 N.E. 641 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | TEMPLE v. MIDDLESEX & B. ST. RY. CO. |
Report from Superior Court, Middlesex County; George A. Sanderson, Judge.
Action of tort by Maurice E. Temple agaisnt the Middlesex & Boston Street Railway Company for personal injuries and damages to property sustained when the defendant's street car collided with plaintiff's automobile. Reported from the superior court after a directed verdict for defendant. Judgment for plaintiff.
Plaintiff had bought the automobile for $385, and paid $60 down, receiving a lease of the car. He testified that the automobile was not registered in his name. Defendant raised the point that the automobile was improperly registered. The case was reported with the provision that, if it should have been submitted to the jury, judgment was to be entered for plaintiff for $800, and otherwise judgment entered on the verdict.
Under St. 1912, c. 400 (G. L. c. 90, s 2), relative to the registration of motor vehicles, there can be no recovery for personal injuries and damages to property sustained in a collision, if plaintiff's automobile was not legally registered.
Under St. 1912, c. 400 (G. L. c. 90, s 2), requiring the application for the registration of a motor vehicle to be made by the owner where the seller of an automobile has retained title until it is fully paid for, it may be registered in the name of either the vendor or the vendee, and need not be registered in the names of both.
Under St. 1912, c. 400 (G. L. c. 90, s 2), an automobile properly registered by the owner may be legally used on the highways by one who is not the legal owner, but has only a special property in the machine, such as one who has contracted to buy it by a contract reserving title to the seller until full payment.
A street railroad company could have been found negligent in operating a car without a searchlight on a dark night when sleet was falling, and, by reason of the deep snow, automobiles were using the car track.
William Reed Bigelow, of Boston, for plaintiff.
Pitt F. Drew and John P. Carr, both of Boston, for defendant.
This case grows out of a collision between an electric car of the defendant and an automobile driven by the plaintiff on December 21, 1916. The plaintiff because of the depth of snow in the traveled part of the highway was traveling upon that portion of it occupied by the defendant's tracks. It was a dark night and sleet was falling. The plaintiff saw one of the defendnat's cars about 50 feet away moving rapidly towad him, without a search-light. He tried to get off the track, but on account of the deep snow was unable to do so, and was struck by the street car. The automobile which the plaintiff was operating was registered in the name of the Natick Garage, with whom the plaintiff had entered into an agreement for its purchase under a contract of conditional sale. He had an operator's license, but the automobile was not registered in his name.
[1] The important question is whether the automobile registered only in the name of the seller in a conditional sale agreement is a sufficient registration under the statute. By St. 1912, c. 400, now G. L. c. 90, § 2, it is provided that application for the registration of motor vehicles shall be made by the owner thereof; if the automobile was not legally registered the plaintiff could not recover for the defendant's negligence. Dudley v. Northampton Street Railway, 202 Mass. 443, 89 N. E. 25,23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 561.
[2] The Natick Garage was the owner of the automobile, it retained the title and the automobile was not to become the property of the plaintiff until fully paid for. In Downey v. Bay State Street Railway, 225 Mass. 281, 284, 114 N. E. 207, it was decided that the vendee under a conditional sale contract may be considered an...
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Liddell v. Standard Acc. Ins. Co.
...v. Nicksa, 228 Mass. 346, 117 N. E. 325, or the conditional vendor may register it in his name as owner, Temple v. Middlesex & Boston Street Railway, 241 Mass. 124, 134 N. E. 641, but if a dealer who is owner because he is conditional vendor parts with possession and control of a motor vehi......
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Liddell v. Middlesex Motor Co.
...name of the conditional vendor even though the possession and control pass to the conditional vendee. See Temple v. Middlesex & Boston Street Railway Co., 241 Mass. 124, 134 N. E. 641;Murray v. Indursky, 266 Mass. 220, 223, 165 N. E. 91. In the case at bar the automobile was registered not ......
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Cadwallader v. Clifton R. Shaw, Inc.
...that: "Application for the registration of motor vehicles and trailers may be made by the owner thereof." In Temple v. M. & B. St. Railway Co., 241 Mass. 124, 134 N. E. 641, although recognizing that application for registration of a motor vehicle must be made by the owner thereof, the cour......
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Coyle v. Swanson
...Nicksa, 228 Mass. 346, 350, 117 N.E. 325. (Both cases hold that a conditional vendee may register as owner.) Temple v. Middlesex & Boston St. Ry., 241 Mass. 124, 125, 134 N.E. 641 (conditional vendor). Harlow v. Sinman, 241 Mass. 462, 463-464, 135 N.E. 553 (part In the Downey case it was sa......