Nationwide Insurance v. Hill

307 F. Supp. 801, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8716
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 16, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 68-C-95-R
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 307 F. Supp. 801 (Nationwide Insurance v. Hill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nationwide Insurance v. Hill, 307 F. Supp. 801, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8716 (W.D. Va. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION AND JUDGMENT

DALTON, Chief Judge.

On July 15, 1967, at approximately 10:30 p. m., Cleveland Kyle Quesenberry [802]*802was attending a “Demolition Derby” near Hillsville, in Carroll County, Virginia, at a place known as the Hillsville Speedway. At that time and place, the defendant, Joseph Stephen Hill (hereafter referred to as Hill, Jr.) was a participant in the Demolition Derby. While standing in the spectator area, Quesenberry was injured when Hill, Jr.'s vehicle left .the track and struck him. As a result of this accident, Q'uesenberry filed suit against Hill, Jr. in the Circuit Court of Carroll County seeking damages in the amount of $45,000 for injuries sustained by him. The Derby sponsors did not have any type of liability insurance coverage for the participants. Nationwide Insurance Company (hereafter referred to as Nationwide), the plaintiff herein, insured an automobile owned by Queseriberry, pursuant to the Virginia Uninsured Motorist statute, sec. 38.1-381, Code of Virginia.

That case has been held in abeyance pending the outcome of this declaratory judgment action to determine whether liability insurance policies issued by Aetna Casualty and Surety Company (hereafter referred to as Aetna) and/or State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (hereafter referred ,to as State Farm) afford coverage to Hill, Jr., for liability arising out of the accident.

The defendant, Joseph Hill, Sr., (hereafter referred to as Hill, Sr.) is part owner of J & B Auto Parts, in Hillsville. The company’s business involves primarily the purchase of old cars for junk and sale of used parts. Hill, Sr. agreed to give the promoters of the Demolition Derby two automobiles, a 1956 Chrysler and a 1959 Oldsmobile, to be driven in the Derby. Hill, Jr., while driving the 1959 Oldsmobile struck and injured Quesenberry. Titles to both automobiles had been previously picked up from Hill, Sr. by the local Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Inspector, and the word “junk” written on the titles. Hill, Sr. did not secure a new certificate of title from DMV prior to this transfer of the 1959 Oldsmobile to the Derby promoters and the automobile was not inspected by DMV prior to its transfer.

Hill, Sr. agreed with the Derby sponsors that he could purchase any cars (including the two furnished by him) remaining after the Derby for the sum of $5.00 per car. The Derby sponsors painted some advertising for J & B Auto Parts on the sides of each car.

The main object in the Derby was to wreck .the other drivers, and the last car remaining on the track was the winner. Hill, Sr. and Hill, Jr. both testified that there was no racing and neither time nor speed were factors. There were two or three heats, with three or four cars in each heat, and .the “survivor” of each heat went to the feature event. There were money prizes for each heat. The accident involved in this case occurred in the feature heat.

At the time of the accident, Hill, Jr., age .twenty, and a VPI student, was out of school for summer vacation and was living with his mother, his parents being divorced. He had a summer job at the Radford Arsenal. He testified that he obtained his mother’s permission to drive in the Derby. He was not employed by his father in any way, nor had he ever worked for his father or J & B Auto Parts.

At the time of the accident J & B Auto Parts was insured under a garage liability policy issued by Aetna. Mrs. Jean Hill, mother of defendant Hill, Jr., carried a family automobile policy with State Farm. Nationwide instituted this declaratory judgment and seeks a holding that either Aetna or State Farm is liable on its policy, which holding would eliminate any uninsured motorist recovery against Nationwide.

Aetna contends that this accident is not covered by its policy in that the accident involved a non-owned automobile. Nationwide asserts that the 1959 Oldsmobile was owned by J & B Auto Parts at the time of the accident and, thereby, afforded coverage to Hill, Jr. The question presented is whether, under § 46.1-[803]*80398 1 and § 46.1-87 of the Code of Virginia, Hill, Sr. had done enough to transfer ownership of the 1959 Oldsmobile.

§ 46.1-98 reads as follows:
(a) Every dealer or person, upon purchasing a motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer which is to be demolished shall immediately surrender the title certificate thereto to the Division and file therewith a copy of the bill of sale or other instrument transferring ownership. Failure to surrender the title certificate shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable under § 46.1-16.
(b) Before such person or purchaser sells or transfers the vehicle or the motor thereof he shall first secure a new title certificate from the Division and it shall be the duty of the Division to make adequate inspection of the vehicle as to mechanical condition, fitness and safety, before issuing the new title certificate.

§ 46.1-87 states that in order to transfer title the owner must endorse an assignment and warranty of title upon the reverse side of the certificate of title, with a statement of all security interests, acknowledge his signature, and deliver the certificate to the purchaser or transferee. In order for J & B Auto Parts to have effectively transferred title under these two sections, J & B would have to secure a new title certificate and have it assigned to the new owner under § 46.1-87.

Aetna asserts that .the case of Buckeye Union Casualty Company v. Robertson, 206 Va. 863, 147 S.E.2d 94 (1966), should be applied. That case held that evidence may be introduced to prove that the true owner of a vehicle is a person other than the one in whose name the vehicle is registered. The Buckeye case and those cases on which Buckeye relied all involved situations where the insurance company seeks to disclaim liability because the sole owner of the automobile is not the one designated by the policy. This line of cases holds that for purposes of determining whether the sole ownership statement is untrue and material to the risk (thus voiding .the insurance contract), the title certificate is only prima facie evidence of ownership. These cases do not apply to the facts of the present case. The present case involves a situation in which the insurance company seeks to avoid liability because the ownership of the insured vehicle has been transferred. The Virginia cases involving this factual situation uniformly require strict adherence to the statutory procedures to effectuate the transfer of ownership and to cease insurance coverage on a particular automobile.

The court relies on Nationwide Ins. Co. v. Storm, 200 Va. 526, 106 S.E.2d 588 (1959), in determining this issue. In that case one Goodwin purchased a car from Martha Olsen. Goodwin made the final payment on a Saturday. It was agreed that the title certificates would not be transferred until Monday. Goodwin was involved in an accident on Sunday. The question presented to the court was whether Martha Olsen’s insurance policy afforded coverage. The court relied on and quoted the following from the case of Garlick v. McFarland, et al., 159 Ohio St. 539, 113 N.E.2d 92 (1953):

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Related

Salzi v. Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance
556 S.E.2d 758 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2002)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
307 F. Supp. 801, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nationwide-insurance-v-hill-vawd-1969.