Wright v. Neale

• Decision Date: 01 September 1988
• Docket Number: No. 919,919
• Citation: 79 Md.App. 20,555 A.2d 518
• Parties: Fletcher L. WRIGHT, et al., v. Alvin Morris NEALE, et al. ,
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 20

79 Md.App. 20

555 A.2d 518

Fletcher L. WRIGHT, et al., v. Alvin Morris NEALE, et al.

No. 919, Sept. Term, 1988.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 30, 1989.

Charles R. Claxton, Rockville, for appellants, Rev. and Mrs. Fletcher L. Wright.

Mary S. Akerley and Sasscer, Claggett, Channing & Bucher, on the brief, Upper Marlboro, for appellant, Allstate Ins. Co.

Benjamin S. Vaughan (Armstrong, Donohue & Ceppos, Chartered, on the brief), Rockville, for appellees.

Argued before ROSALYN B. BELL and WENNER, JJ., and JAMES S. GETTY, Associate Judge of the Court of Special Appeals (retired), Specially Assigned.

JAMES S. GETTY, Judge, Retired, Specially Assigned.

The single issue presented by this appeal is whether an action for negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle may be maintained against one of two co-owners of the vehicle. The trial court ruled that titling the automobile in joint names precluded the action. We disagree.

On August 25, 1985, Alvin Neale drove a Mercedes sedan, owned by Neale and his wife Margaret, across the center line of Allentown Road in Prince George's County and collided with a car driven by Rev. Fletcher Wright. As a result of the head-on collision, Wright, his wife and two children sustained serious injuries.

Allstate Insurance Company, Wright's insurer, paid the injured parties $95,000.00 under the uninsured motorist coverage provided in the Allstate policy. Thereafter, Wright and Allstate filed suit against Margaret Neale for negligent entrustment in permitting Alvin Neale, who was uninsured, to use the Mercedes. ¹ The trial court (Levin, J.) granted summary judgment for Neale based upon the theory that a co-owner has no right of control over the other co-owner's use of the vehicle. We assume that the court concluded that one co-owner cannot "supply" a vehicle to the other co-owner since their rights to use the chattel are equal.

The Neale vehicle was purchased in May, 1983. In order to obtain registration, the Neales certified that the vehicle would be "continuously insured while operated throughout the period of registration" and represented that the car was insured by Nationwide Insurance Company. The policy was originally issued to Alvin Neale, but in 1981 Nationwide advised the Neales that it would continue coverage only to Margaret Neale. The exclusion of Alvin Neale followed two at-fault accidents where he was the driver.

Alvin Neale had received numerous citations for moving violations preceding his exclusion from the Nationwide policy. In the two years between his exclusion from the Nationwide policy and the purchase of the Mercedes, he received additional citations resulting in a suspension of his operator's license. Within the time frame of the purchase of the Mercedes and the collision with the Wrights, he was assessed points for three separate speeding violations.

The tort of negligent entrustment was recognized and applied to motor vehicles in Rounds v. Phillips, 166 Md. 151, 170 A. 532 (1934). The court adopted the Restatement definition of the tort currently defined in Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 390 (1965), as:

[O]ne who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for use of another whom the supplier knows or has reason to know to be likely because of his youth, inexperience or otherwise, to use it in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm to others whom the supplier should expect to share in or be endangered by its use, is subject to liability for physical harm resulting to them.

Pellucidly, the purpose of the doctrine is the protection of the public from incompetent drivers.

In Rounds, supra, Phillips purchased a car for his minor son. The son's license to drive and registration were later revoked. Phillips then had the car re-titled in his wife's name and obtained reinstatement of his son's license to drive. Thereafter, Phillips was sued by a victim of his son's negligent driving. The court held that Phillips could be held accountable for his son's negligence because he negligently entrusted the vehicle to his son whom he knew to be an incompetent driver. The Court of Appeals stated that the father, as head of the household, could have controlled the use of the vehicle despite the fact that the car was a gift to the son and titled in the wife's name.

Phillips contended that the car was titled in and owned by the mother and, therefore, it was not he who supplied the vehicle. The Court dismissed this argument, stating:

We do not think that the title to the automobile, ... is conclusive, but that the principle applies not only to the owner of an automobile, but to anyone who has the right to permit and the power to prohibit the use thereof. Having such power and authority, if he does not prohibit his minor son, who he knows is addicted to driving an automobile while under the influence of liquor, and is habitually negligent and reckless in its use, there can be no valid distinction between him, under such circumstances, and the one who has the record title to the automobile in question.

166 Md. at 168, 170 A. 532.

Clearly, Rounds establishes that titling alone, at least in parent-child relationships, does not bar an action for negligent entrustment.

Neither does a completed gift defeat a subsequent action for negligent entrustment. We cite from Kahlenberg v. Goldstein, 290 Md. 477, 431 A.2d 76 (1981), on the gift rationale. Laurence Goldstein, age 20, ² was married and moved to California in June 1970. He owned several automobiles while he lived in California. In October, 1971, having left his car and his wife behind, he returned to his parents' home. In December, Laurence and his father responded to a newspaper advertisement and a car was purchased. The evidence was conflicting as to who paid for the car. In any event, the car was intended to be for Laurence since each of his parents owned other vehicles.

Several days after obtaining the car Laurence had an accident which injured a passenger in his car. Laurence's dismal traffic record and one suspension were well known to his father. Seeking a directed verdict as to his liability, the father argued, alternatively, that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that he either (1) supplied the vehicle, (2) had the power to prohibit its use, or (3) that his alleged negligence was a proximate cause of the passenger's injuries.

The court rejected a line of cases holding that negligent entrustment does not apply to situations where a gift is made to an incompetent driver and determined that whether the father made a gift of the car with the requisite knowledge of Laurence's negligent driving history was a jury question. Commenting upon the different view taken in several states that prohibit negligent entrustment actions in gift situations, the Court (Rodowsky, J.) added:

It seems to us that the principal features of the tort lie in the knowledge of the supplier concerning the dangerous propensities of the entrustee and in the foreseeability of harm. If one who gives an automobile to a member of his immediate family has the requisite knowledge, and the other elements of the tort are satisfied, we can see no reason for denying liability exclusively on the basis that title is transferred in addition to possession.

290 Md. at 488, 431 A.2d 76.

The most recent case on negligent entrustment from this Court is Morris v. Weddington, 74 Md.App. 650, 539 A.2d 1145 (1988). The Aults, co-owners of a van, obtained a summary judgment at trial in a suit charging them with negligent entrustment of their van to their son-in-law, Weddington. The van was used by Weddington the day prior to the accident with the permission of Mr. Ault. No permission was requested or granted on the following day, although Weddington had the use of the van for a week while his wife's car was being repaired. The Aults were aware that their insurance policy excluded Weddington as a covered driver due to his prior motor vehicle violations. We reversed (Karwacki, J.), concluding that a jury question was presented as to whether the Aults had knowledge of Weddington's dangerous driving habits and whether they "supplied" the van. It is noteworthy that Mrs. Ault, a co-owner, could be considered a supplier since she knew of Weddington's access to the van and did not exercise her "power to prohibit the use of" the van,...