Kaynor v. Farline

117 Wash. App. 575
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 10, 2003
DocketNo. 21199-1-III
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 117 Wash. App. 575 (Kaynor v. Farline) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kaynor v. Farline, 117 Wash. App. 575 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Kurtz, J.

Corissa and Christopher Kaynor were injured when a vehicle driven by 17-year-old Nicholas Farline [578]*578struck their vehicle. Later, Mr. Kaynor died of his injuries. Based on the family car doctrine, Ms. Kaynor filed a claim for wrongful death and personal injury against Nicholas’s divorced parents, Bruce Farline and Karen Dahl-Green. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Nicholas’s parents, concluding that the family car doctrine did not apply because (1) there was no evidence that Ms. Dahl-Green owned, maintained, or provided the vehicle driven by Nicholas, (2) Nicholas resided with his mother and was not a member of Mr. Farline’s household, and (3) the vehicle was provided for Nicholas’s exclusive use and was not intended to be a family car. Ms. Kaynor appeals, contending the evidence creates factual issues as to each element of the family car doctrine. We agree, reverse the summary judgment orders, and remand for trial.

FACTS

In March 1999, Corissa Kaynor and her husband, Christopher Kaynor, were injured in an automobile collision that occurred on Interstate 90 near Moses Lake, Washington. Mr. Kaynor’s injuries proved fatal. The vehicle that struck the Kaynor vehicle was driven by 17-year-old Nicholas Farline. The collision occurred when Nicholas fell asleep, or lost attention, while returning to Spokane after attending a high school basketball tournament near Tacoma.

Family status and residence. Nicholas’s parents are Bruce Farline and Karen Dahl-Green. Nicholas is their only child. Mr. Farline and Ms. Dahl-Green divorced in December 1985, when Nicholas was four years old. The dissolution decree provided for joint custody; Ms. Dahl-Green was given primary physical custody of Nicholas and Mr. Farline was granted liberal visitation. Under the decree, both parents were granted the right and authority to decide matters concerning Nicholas’s health, education, religion, and well-being. Mr. Farline was ordered to pay child support. Two years after the decree was entered, Ms. DahlGreen married Paul Green.

[579]*579As a child, Nicholas lived with Ms. Dahl-Green, who resided in Spokane, but he frequently visited Mr. Farline, who resided in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Nicholas would visit with his father every Thursday, every other weekend, and over the summer. When Nicholas entered his teenage years, he continued to live with his mother in Spokane, but still saw his father on a regular basis. The Thursday visits proved difficult to maintain, but Mr. Farline and Nicholas continued the weekend and summer visits.

Purchase and maintenance of the vehicle. At the time of the accident, Nicholas was driving a 1985 Jeep Wagoneer. The vehicle was purchased in Oldtown, Idaho, on Nicholas’s 17th birthday — June 17, 1998. Mr. Farline and Nicholas had selected this 1985 Jeep Wagoneer after looking at a number of other vehicles.

Nicholas, Mr. Farline, and Mr. Farline’s parents, Lou and Ruth Farline, were present at the time of the purchase. Nicholas stated that he paid one-half of the purchase price and that his father paid the other one-half. Mr. Farline stated that the money for the vehicle came from him but that: “Part of it I had put away for Nick, that I told him it’s his money, he could do what he wanted to do with it.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 141. Mr. Farline further stated that he put this money aside for Nicholas in exchange for Nicholas obtaining a 3.0 grade point average. Mr. Farline’s parents may have assisted their son by contributing to his portion of the purchase price.

At the time of the purchase, Nicholas and his father discovered that the Jeep could not be titled in Nicholas’s name due to his age. They further discovered that a Washington title to the vehicle could not be placed in Mr. Farline’s name because he resided in Idaho. Nicholas solved this problem by telephoning his mother and asking if title to the vehicle could be placed in her name. Ms. Dahl-Green and her husband Paul Green were not involved in plans to purchase the vehicle. In fact, Paul Green stated that he was not in favor of the purchase of a vehicle for Nicholas. In spite of these reservations, Ms. Dahl-Green agreed that the [580]*580vehicle could be titled in her name. The bill of sale showed Nicholas as the sole purchaser of the vehicle.

For the first few months, Ms. Dahl-Green provided automobile insurance on the vehicle. But after Nicholas was involved in two automobile accidents, causing her insurance carrier to issue a notice of cancellation, she removed the vehicle from her automobile insurance. Thereafter, Mr. Farline obtained and paid for Nicholas’s automobile liability insurance. Nicholas did not pay for any insurance on the Jeep.

Nicholas’s other automobile expenses were divided unevenly between his two parents. Mr. Farline, and possibly his father Lou Farline, paid for the Jeep’s repairs. Ms. Dahl-Green purchased studded snow tires for the Jeep. In the main, Nicholas paid for gasoline for the Jeep. Sometimes, Mr. Farline would pay to have the tank filled when Nicholas was spending weekends in Idaho. Ms. Dahl-Green remembers paying for the Jeep’s gasoline on only one occasion.

Use of the vehicle. Nicholas obtained his driver’s license about six months before the Jeep was purchased. Prior to obtaining the Jeep, Ms. Dahl-Green or a friend would drive Nicholas to school and work. Nicholas used Ms. DahlGreen’s Honda or Mr. Green’s Subaru for dates and, on occasion, Nicholas would drive the Honda to work. Before the Jeep was purchased, Mr. Farline would drive into Spokane to pick up Nicholas or Ms. Dahl-Green would drive Nicholas halfway. After the Jeep was purchased, Nicholas drove himself to his activities, school, work, and visitations at his father’s home in Idaho.

Mr. Farline drove the Jeep on only one occasion, using the vehicle to get groceries. Mr. Farline also occasionally rode in the Jeep while Nicholas drove. A few times, Nicholas drove Mr. Farline to the lake so that Mr. Farline could use his wave runner. While Mr. Farline used the wave runner, Nicholas went somewhere else in the Jeep and then returned to pick up Mr. Farline. Mr. Green drove the Jeep on one occasion to move it so that he could sweep the driveway. [581]*581Ms. Dahl-Green never drove the Jeep, but Nicholas used the Jeep to haul plants and a chipper/shredder for her. Neither Ms. Dahl-Green nor Mr. Green had keys to the Jeep.

Nicholas’s driving privileges. Mr. Farline testified that Nicholas did not need permission to use the Jeep for his everyday activities. But Nicholas would ask for permission to take long trips when he was staying with his father. Specifically, Nicholas asked for permission to drive on camping trips to Priest Lake. Mr. Farline testified that he was more lenient than Ms. Dahl-Green and that Nicholas would ask him for permission to do things after Ms. Dahl-Green had refused permission. Mr. Farline stated: “And sometimes he would use me against his mom. I let him go.” CP at 128.

Ms. Dahl-Green stated in her affidavit that:

The Wagoneer was Nick’s car. Nick drove the Wagoneer wherever he went, which usually was to and from school and to and from his girlfriend’s home. I never gave permission to Nick to drive the Wagoneer, since permission was not mine to give.

CP at 30-31.

However, Ms. Dahl-Green did exercise some control over Nicholas’s use of the Jeep. Nicholas obtained the Jeep on June 17, 1998.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Watson v. Emard
267 P.3d 1048 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
Starr v. Hill
353 S.W.3d 478 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2011)
Young v. Beck
251 P.3d 380 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2011)
Kaynor v. Farline
72 P.3d 262 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
117 Wash. App. 575, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaynor-v-farline-washctapp-2003.