52 Mich. App. 638 | Mich. Ct. App. | 1974
Lead Opinion
Plaintiff filed suit against the owner and the driver of a motor vehicle. A default judgment was entered against the driver. The trial court entered a judgment of no cause of action in favor of the owner as the borrower of the vehicle had disobeyed instructions. We reverse.
On the day that defendant Grace Strecker’s car was being driven by defendant William Shannon that car collided with a car being driven by plain
In order to resolve this appeal we must choose between two recent decisions: Roberts v Posey, 386 Mich 656; 194 NW2d 310 (1972), and Ensign v Crater, 41 Mich App 477; 200 NW2d 341 (1972), appeal dismissed with prejudice by stipulation, 389 Mich 791 (1973). In Roberts, 386 Mich at 664; 194 NW2d at 314, the Michigan Supreme Court overruled Merritt v Huron Motor Sales, Inc, 282 Mich 322; 276 NW 464 (1937), and held that "[t]he presumption that a motor vehicle, taken with the permission of its owner, is thereafter being driven with his express or implied consent or knowledge
We concede that Ensign and the instant case are "factually distinguishable” from Roberts. Different instructions were disregarded by the borrower in each case. However, in light of the rationale underlying the decision in Roberts, we cannot agree that that factual difference is significant. In Roberts, supra, 386 Mich at 662; 194 NW2d at 312, our Supreme Court interpreted the civil liability act to place upon the owner of an automobile liability for any injury or damage caused by the improper use of his car, even when operated by another in blatant disregard of explicit instructions, because, as the person with ultimate control of the vehicle, the owner, by entrusting his car to another, began the chain of events which resulted in injury or damage. The specifics of any limitations imposed by the owner are irrelevant to the statute’s effectuation of its purpose. Whatever the limitations, once the owner has turned his keys over to another, he is powerless to enforce those limitations. Several thousand pounds of steel are being moved
Reversed and remanded for entry of judgment against defendant Strecker. Costs to plaintiff.
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring). I write separately because I concurred in Ensign v Crater, 41 Mich App 477; 200 NW2d 341 (1972), appeal dismissed with prejudice by stipulation, 389 Mich 791 (1973). Although the situation in Ensign, supra, is factually distinguishable
Accordingly, based on the strong policies expressed in Roberts, I concur with my colleagues in the present decision and alter my position in Ensign to the extent it is inconsistent with the policies in Roberts.
Roberts, supra, involved a permittee-driver who had exceeded the scope of the consent. Ensign involved a driver never given consent but operating with the permission of the first permittee who was in possession of the vehicle with the consent of the owner.