Home/Supreme Court of Kansas/State v. Groves

State v. Groves

653 P.2d 457, 232 Kan. 66
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 22, 1982
DocketNo. 53,412
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 653 P.2d 457 (State v. Groves) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Groves, 653 P.2d 457, 232 Kan. 66 (kan 1982).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Prager, J.:

This is a direct appeal from the judgment of the District Court of Coffey County finding the four defendants guilty of violating Kansas motor vehicle registration statutes. The defendants appealed to the Court of Appeals which reversed the convictions in a published opinion, State v. Groves, 7 Kan. App. 2d 545, 644 P.2d 1013 (1982). The Supreme Court granted the State’s petition for review.

The facts in the case are undisputed. The defendants, William R. Groves, William A. Cummings, and Michael D. Booth, were arrested for driving unregistered Schwing concrete pump/boom trucks owned by their employer, Concrete Placement, Inc., of Kansas City, Kansas, on U.S. Highway 75 in Coffey County on three occasions in October of 1979 and July of 1980. Specifically, [67]*67all defendants were charged with violating K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-142 and K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-127(a). The primary issue presented is this: Was the concrete pump/boom truck in each case either a “self-propelled crane” or “road machinery” and, therefore, exempt from motor vehicle registration under the provisions of K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-128?

At the outset, we should look at the Kansas statutes governing registration of motor vehicles and the exemptions granted thereunder. K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-126 provides in part as follows:

“8-126. Definitions. The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them herein:
"(a) ‘Vehicle.’ Every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
"(b) ‘Motor vehicle.’ Every vehicle, other than a motorized bicycle, which is self-propelled.
“(c) ‘Truck.’ A motor vehicle which is used for the transportation or delivery of freight and merchandise or more than ten (10) passengers.
“(j) ‘Farm tractor.’ Every motor vehicle designed and used as a farm implement power unit operated with or without other attached farm implements in any manner consistent with the structural design of such power unit.
“(k) ‘Specially constructed vehicle.’ Any vehicle which shall not have been originally constructed under a distinctive name, make, model or type, or which, if originally otherwise constructed shall have been materially altered by the removal of essential parts, or by the addition or substitution of essential parts, new or used, derived from other vehicles or makes of vehicles.
“(y) ‘Self-propelled farm implement.’ Every farm implement designed for specific use applications with its motive power unit permanently incorporated in its structural design.”

K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-127(a) provides in part as follows:

“8-127. Registration of vehicles operated in this state; exceptions; temporary operation of certain vehicles without registration, when, (a) Every owner of a motor vehicle . . . intended to be operated upon any highway in this state . . . shall, before any such vehicle is operated in this state, apply for and obtain registration in this state under the provisions of K.S.A. 8-126 to 8-149, inclusive, . . . except as otherwise provided by law . . . .”

K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-128 provides:

“8-128. Registration of vehicles; exemptions, (a) Farm tractors, all self-propelled farm implements including fertilizers and spreaders designed and used exclusively for dispensing liquid or dust fertilizer, .road rollers and road machinery temporarily operated or moved upon the highways, municipally owned [68]*68fire trucks, privately owned fire trucks subject to a mutual aid agreement with a municipality and school buses owned and operated by a school district or a nonpublic school which have the name of the municipality, school district or nonpublic school plainly painted thereon need not be registered under this act. A truck mounted fertilizer spreader used or manufactured principally to spread animal dung is not a self-propelled farm implement for the purpose of this section or for the purpose of the act of which this section is a part.
“(b) Self-propelled cranes and earth moving equipment which are equipped with pneumatic tires may be moved on the highways of this state from one job location to another, or to or from places of storage delivery or repair, without complying with the provisions of the law relating to registration and display of license plates but shall comply with all the other requirements of the law relating to motor vehicles and shall not be operated on state maintained roads or highways on Sundays or any legal holidays except Lincoln’s birthday, Washington’s birthday or Columbus day.”

K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-142 First provides:

“8-142. Unlawful acts. It shall be unlawful for any person to commit any of the following acts:
“First: To operate, or for the owner thereof knowingly to permit the operation, upon a highway of any vehicle, as defined in K.S.A. 8-126, which is not registered . . . .”

The defendants first contend that a Schwing concrete pump/boom truck is a “self-propelled crane” and, therefore, is exempt from vehicle registration requirements pursuant to K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 8-128. It is agreed that the unit in question is a motor vehicle within the meaning of the statutes. It would be helpful to take a close look at the vehicle and the manner in which it is utilized by its owner. A photograph of the Schwing concrete pump/boom truck involved in each of the arrests is included within this opinion.

At the trial before the district magistrate, Edward Lothamer, manager of defendant Concrete Placement, Inc., testified in detail as to the vehicle’s characteristics and the manner in which it operates. He stated that the vehicle is used “as a means of lifting or elevating concrete onto structures which you cannot get to in any other manner.” Sixty percent of the company’s work is road work and the remainder is commercial work. The vehicle is used sometimes in highway improvement for the construction of bridges.

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Related

State v. Zeit
180 P.3d 1068 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2008)
State v. Parson
808 P.2d 444 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
653 P.2d 457, 232 Kan. 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-groves-kan-1982.