Massachusetts § 85A Prima facie evidence of owner's responsibility for operation of motor vehicle

Massachusetts Statutes

§ 85A — Prima facie evidence of owner's responsibility for operation of motor vehicle

Massachusetts § 85A

Part IIICOURTS, JUDICIAL OFFICERS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CIVIL CASES

Title IIACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS THEREIN

Ch. 231PLEADING AND PRACTICE

This text of Massachusetts § 85A (Prima facie evidence of owner's responsibility for operation of motor vehicle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, § 85A (2026).

Text

Section 85A. In all actions to recover damages for injuries to the person or to property or for the death of a person, arising out of an accident or collision in which a motor vehicle was involved, evidence that at the time of such accident or collision it was registered in the name of the defendant as owner shall be prima facie evidence that it was then being operated by and under the control of a person for whose conduct the defendant was legally responsible, and absence of such responsibility shall be an affirmative defence to be set up in the answer and proved by the defendant.

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

Section 85A. In all actions to recover damages for injuries to the person or to property or for the death of a person, arising out of an accident or collision in which a motor vehicle was involved, evidence that at the time of such accident or collision it was registered in the name of the defendant as owner shall be prima facie evidence that it was then being operated by and under the control of a person for whose conduct the defendant was legally responsible, and absence of such responsibility shall be an affirmative defence to be set up in the answer and proved by the defendant.