Government Employees Insurance v. Coppage

Oppenheimer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This dispute between one insurance company and the receiver of another as to coverage for automobile liability turns on whether title to an automobile had passed at the time of the accident. The appellant, Government Employees Insurance Company (G.E.I.C.), filed a declaration for a declaratory judgment under the Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act, Code (1957), Art. 31A against National Mutual Insurance Company of Maryland (National), in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, asking that the court declare that an automobile liability policy issued by National to Charles M. Patterson is the primary coverage as to a collision in which a Buick automobile alleged to have been owned by Patterson at the time was involved, and that no coverage is afforded either Patterson or David C. Barnes, the insured under the policy of G.E.I.C., as to the collision. After the filing of the declaration, John H. Cop-page was duly appointed receiver of National and contested the relief prayed.

Testimony was taken before Judge Parker who denied the relief prayed by G.E.I.C. and ordered that the liability policy issued by that company afforded coverage of Patterson and/or Barnes for possible liability arising out of the accident. G.E.I.C. appealed. ²⁰ The basic facts are virtually undisputed. On Monday, January 7, 1963, Barnes and Patterson met after work in Hyattsville, at the Greenwood Inn, colloquially referred .to as “Smitty’s”, Barnes owned a Ford Falcon insured by G.E.I.C. Patterson told Barnes he had an automobile for sale, a 1956 Buick sedan. Barnes said that he needed a second car and agreed to buy the Buick for $200 “if it will run.” The next day, Tuesday, January 8, Barnes telephoned the G.E.I.C. and said: “You have a policy on my Ford Falcon.

I am going to buy a Buick and I want it to be covered.” The representative of the G.E.I.C. said: “You are covered as of this moment.” The next day, Wednesday, January 9, Barnes and Patterson met at Becker’s Tag and Title Service Company in Hyattsville, a company which arranges for the transfer of title to automobiles. At Becker’s, Patterson presented his certificate of title to the Buick, which he duly assigned to Barnes. Patterson’s execution of the assignment was notarized. At the same time, Patterson executed a so-called bill of sale to Barnes.

This document stated that “I, Charles N. Patterson, hereby sell my 1956 Buick, serial 7C5035196 to David C. Barnes for the sum of $200.00” and was signed and sworn to by Patterson. Barnes paid $20 to Becker’s for the purpose of defraying the expenses of obtaining the new title and tags, which would take approximately two days. Barnes also signed and swore to the application for a new certificate of title as purchaser. Patterson testified that after these papers had been signed, Barnes asked him if he would do him a favor and pick up his tags and title and bring them over to Smitty’s; Patterson worked near Becker’s so that it would be convenient for him to pick up the tags and the title.

It was also agreed at this time that when the tags and title were received Barnes would give Patterson a check for $200. After the meeting at Becker’s, Barnes and Patterson again met at Smitty’s and Barnes told Patterson “to go ahead and drive the car until Friday” when the new tags would be put on the car. After leaving Becker’s at approximately 8:30 P.M. on the same day, January 9, Patterson, while driving the Buick, was involved in a collision which totally demolished the car. An action was subsequently brought against Barnes and Pat ²¹ terson by various persons injured in the accident.

G.E.I.C. contended that Barnes never became the owner of the car and that Barnes was not covered under the policy issued by G.E.I.C. to Barnes. It requested National to take over the defense of the personal injury action; National refused, and the present litigation resulted. The appellant contends that the record does not support the finding of the court below that at the time of the accident Barnes was the owner of the automobile driven by Patterson; that the liability policy issued by National was the primary coverage as to the collision; and that the court below erred in excluding certain evidence. I National has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal because certain documents introduced in evidence at the trial below were not included by G.E.I.C. in the appendix to its brief in this Court.

These documents are: the registration certificate of the 1956 Buick; the assignment thereof to Barnes; Barnes’ application for a new title certificate; the so-called bill of sale signed by Patterson; the receipt of Becker’s Title and Tag Service Company showing the payment by Barnes of $20; and the policy of insurance issued by G.E.I.C. to Barnes. Prior to the argument in this Court, G.E.I.C. filed a supplementary appendix containing these exhibits. Moreover, the opinion of Judge Parker, as well as the record extract and the arguments of counsel, all printed in the original appendix, clearly set forth the nature and substance of the exhibits. In Shapiro v. County Commissioners, 219 Md. 298, 300 , 149 A. 2d 396 (1959), the appellees filed a motion to dismiss the appeal because a deed filed as an exhibit with the bill of complaint was not included in the record abstract.

We held that the record as presented was sufficient for a determination of the questions involved in the appeal and overruled the motion to dismiss. In Seybolt v. Baber, 203 Md. 20, 25-26 , 97 A. 2d 907 (1953), the appellants failed to print in their appendix any of the testimony necessary for a proper consideration of the question raised by them but did include in the appendix a number of exhibits and the opinion of the trial judge, while the appel ²² lee printed a considerable amount of testimony in the appendix to her brief. We found that we had before us all the material necessary to decide the issue and refused to dismiss the appeal. Admittedly, National has not been prejudiced by the omission of G.E.I.C. to present the exhibits in its first appendix and, prior to the argument, we had before us all the exhibits necessary to decide the issues presented.

Under these circumstances, the motion to dismiss the appeal will be denied. See Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Borinsky, 239 Md. 611 , 212 A. 2d 508 (1965), and cases therein cited. II In his opinion, Judge Parker found that Barnes had met Patterson at Becker’s Tag and Title Service Company to effect the transfer of the automobile which Barnes had agreed to purchase; that Becker’s was the agent of Barnes to effectuate the transfer of title from Patterson to Barnes; that the documents signed by Patterson and the payment of the $20 by Barnes to Becker’s to consummate the transfer constituted a transfer and sale of the automobile from Patterson to Barnes as of that time ; and that the fact the purchase price of $200 had not been paid, under the facts and the law, was immaterial. He held further that Barnes’ permission to Patterson to continue using the car for the few days until the new tags could be procured made Barnes a permissive user and therefore a person insured under the G.E.I.C. policy.

The Uniform Sales Act in effect at the time of the transaction here involved, Code (1957), Art. 83, § 36, provided in part as follows: “1) Where there is a contract to sell specific or ascertained goods, the property in them is transferred to the buyer at such time as the parties to the contract intend it to be transferred.” Under the Act, as at common law, it is the expressed intention of the parties as to when title is to be transferred which governs. Syriani v. Gebhart, 195 Md. 69, 77 , 72 A. 2d 766 (1950). See also Agri Mfg. Co. v. Atlantic Fer.

Co., 129 Md. 42, 48 , 98 Atl. 365 (1916); Williston on Sales rev. ed., § 410; Corbin on Contracts, § 30. ²³ The execution by Patterson of the assignment of the certificate of title to the automobile and the execution by Barnes of the application for a new certificate of title, of themselves, were not sufficient to effectuate a transfer of title. In Inland Mutual Insurance Co. v. Stallings, 263 F. 2d 852, 854-55 (4th Cir. 1959), the appellant had brought suit, in the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland, for a declaratory judgment to determine its obligation under an automobile liability policy to persons making claims for injuries sustained in an automobile collision. One of the points involved was whether, on a certain date, Stallings had owned a 1948 Ford not insured by Inland. Stallings’ uncontradicted testimony was that he had delivered possession of that car and the certificate of title thereto to an automobile dealer.

Chief Judge Sobeloff, for the court, stated that, under the Maryland Uniform Sales Act, such delivery and assignment of title were sufficient to pass ownership at the time, if the party so intended, but that the registration records were not determinative, under the facts, as to whether title passed. See also Mohr v. Sands, 213 Md. 206, 213-14 , 131 A. 2d 732 (1957) in which Chief Judge Bruñe, for the Court, stated that the purpose of the Maryland statutes for the recordation of conditional contracts of sale is primarily to give protection against the consequences of false or misleading appearances of ownership based upon the possession of titles, and not for the transfer or curtailment of any rights of ownership in the conditional vendor. Nor did the document signed and sworn to by Patterson in Becker’s office, in which he stated that he sold his 1956 Buick to Barnes for the sum of $200, comply with all the formal statutory requirements of a bill of sale. Code (1957), Art. 21, § 42, in effect at the time of the transaction, provided, inter alia, that a bill of sale shall be signed and sealed by the vendor.

The document here involved did not contain Patterson’s seal. Section 77 of the same article provided that a bill of sale