Salvatore v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

869 A.2d 511, 2005 Pa. Super. 63, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 156
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 16, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 869 A.2d 511 (Salvatore v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salvatore v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 869 A.2d 511, 2005 Pa. Super. 63, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 156 (Pa. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION BY

JOYCE, J.:

¶ 1 State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (hereinafter “State Farm”) appeals from the judgment entered in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on February 25, 2004, in favor of Matthew Salvatore (Appellee). For the reasons set forth below, we reverse and remand this matter to the trial court to enter judgment in favor of State Farm. The relevant facts and procedural history of this matter are as follows.

¶ 2 On February 2, 2000, Appellee purchased a 1993 Mitsubishi Diamante automobile from P & H Auto Sales. On Feb[513]*513ruary 15, 2000, Appellee was stopped by police officers on Intestate 95 in Philadelphia. During this traffic stop, the police made a routine computer check on the auto and discovered that it was listed as a stolen vehicle. Upon this discovery, Ap-pellee was taken into custody and spent one night in jail before the police learned that the vehicle did in fact belong to Ap-pellee. All charges were withdrawn and Appellee was released from custody.

¶ 3 It was subsequently discovered that the history of this vehicle was more interesting than Appellee knew. It was discovered that the vehicle had been stolen in 1996 from a prior owner. Following this theft in 1996, the Lower Merion Township Police Department made out a stolen vehicle report and entered the Mitsubishi into the National Crime Information Center database of stolen automobiles (NCIC). Following the vehicle being reported as stolen, State Farm, which was the insurer of the Mitsubishi at the time of the theft, paid the former owner the value of the car and then took title to the stolen vehicle.

¶ 4 Three years later, the Cheltenham Township Police Department recovered the stolen Mitsubishi. The vehicle was returned to State Farm as it was the record owner, and State Farm obtained a salvage title for the car. The vehicle was then sold at an auction and ultimately ended up for sale at P & H Auto Sales. Unfortunately, the car was never removed from the NCIC stolen vehicle database, and this was the reason for Appellee’s arrest.

¶ 5 Following his arrest and subsequent release, Appellee filed suit against P & H Auto Sales, the sales person, Bucks County Auto Tags (where he registered the car), AIG Insurance Company (Appellee’s insurer), and State Farm claiming violations of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL) and negligence. All defendants, except State Farm, settled this matter with Appellee prior to trial, and following a non-jury trial, the trial court found in favor of Ap-pellee and against State Farm in the amount of $7,000. Post-trial motions were filed and denied, and this timely appeal followed.

¶ 6 On appeal, State Farm raises two claims: 1) that the trial court erred in ruling that State Farm owed a common law duty to Appellee to remove the Mitsubishi from the NCIC; and 2) that the trial court erred in permitting Appellee’s witness to testify as an expert with respect to how State Farm should have verified that the car was removed from “stolen” status on the NCIC. We will address these issues in the order presented.

¶ 7 In Pennsylvania, the protocol for reporting stolen vehicles is governed by statute:

§ 7113. Reporting stolen and recovered vehicles
(a) Stolen vehicle. — Every police department or police office, having knowledge of a stolen vehicle, shall immediately furnish the State Police with full information about the stolen vehicle. The State Police shall forward the stolen vehicle information to the department.
(b) Recovered stolen vehicle. — Within 48 hours of the recovery or receiving notice of recovery of a stolen vehicle by the department to which the theft was originally reported, the police shall notify the owner of the vehicle. If the vehicle was recovered by a department other than the department to which the theft was originally reported, the department that recovered the vehicle shall promptly notify the department to which the theft was originally reported, which department in turn shall notify the owner. If the vehicle was recovered without their knowledge, the owner shall [514]*514notify the same police department to which the theft was originally reported. On recovering or receiving and verifying the report of recovery of a stolen vehicle, the police shall notify the State Police. The State Police shall notify the department of the recovery.

75 Pa.C.S.A. § 7113.

¶ 8 Accordingly, the trial court ruled that no private right of action could be brought against State Farm. Trial Court Opinion, 07/21/2004, at 5. Additionally, the trial court found only a law enforcement agency could remove the stolen status, and communication from an insurer would be of no consequence.

According to the evidence presented at trial, a vehicle previously reported to NCIC as ‘stolen’ can only be removed from ‘stolen’ status by the law enforcement agency that originated the report. When a vehicle is recovered by a different law enforcement agency, the recovering agency is supposed to send a ‘locate’ message over the computer system to the reporting agency, so that the ‘stolen’ status can be cancelled.
In this case, it appears that Chelten-ham failed to notify Lower Merion that the vehicle had been recovered, and that as a result, it was still listed as ‘stolen’ at the time that [Appellee] was stopped.

Id. at 4. We find no error with respect to the trial court’s findings, and we find this much of the trial court’s decision to be legally sound.

¶ 9 However, the trial court proceeded to find that State Farm was negligent under common law principles by failing to ensure that the car was removed from the NCIC prior to placing the car in the stream of commerce.

A person’s liberty interest is the single most important right guaranteed by our Constitution. Because State Farm returned a vehicle to the stream of commerce that was still listed as ‘stolen’ in the NCIC computer system, [Appellee] suffered an unjustified loss of his liberty interest. Though I realize that State Farm itself had no ability to clear the ■ stolen status from NCIC, it certainly had the ability to verify that the vehicle was no longer listed as ‘stolen’ before offering the vehicle at auction.
I find that State Farm’s actions in returning the vehicle to commerce without confirming its status created an unreasonable risk of arrest for [Appellee], and that — because [Appellee] was indeed arrested — State Farm should be held liable.

Id. at 5-6. We find the trial court’s ruling with respect to common law negligence is misguided.

¶ 10 In order for there to be an action at common law sounding in negligence, the alleged tortfeasor must first owe a duty to the allegedly injured party. See Heritage Surveyors & Engineers, Inc. v. National Penn Bank, 801 A.2d 1248, 1252 (Pa.Super.2002). Where there is no duty, there can be no negligence. See id.

¶ 11 The legal concept of “duty” is rooted in public policy. Atcovitz v. Gulph Mills Tennis Club, Inc., 571 Pa. 580, 588, 812 A.2d 1218, 1223 (2002).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
869 A.2d 511, 2005 Pa. Super. 63, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salvatore-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-pasuperct-2005.