Plаintiff contends the trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff’s evidence.
On a motion for a directed verdict by the defendant, the court must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and may grant the motion only if, as a mattеr of law, the evidence is insufficient to justify a verdict for the plaintiff. G.S. 1A-1, Rule 50(a), Rules of Civil Procedure;
Adler v. Insurance Co.,
The motion presents substantially the same question for sufficiency as did a motion for an involuntary nonsuit under former G.S. 1-183. As to the rules which governed the motion for an involuntary nonsuit under G.S. 1-183, see
Bowen v. Gardner,
The insurance policy on which plаintiff seeks to recover is an owner’s liability policy covering a 1953 Oldsmobile, serial No. R546464, issued by defendant to Myers as owner on 1 June 1962. G.S. 20-279.21 (a) (b). In order for the рlaintiff to recover on this policy, the burden is on plaintiff to allege and prove that Myers was insured under this policy on 3 November 1962, the date of the accident in which plaintiff was injured.
Brevard v. Insurance Co.,
“ ‘As is said in Byrd v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co., supra,180 F. 2d 249 , “There is no insurance separate and distinct from the оwnership of the car.” This is so because an owner’s motor vehicle liability policy is a contract between the insurance company аnd the owner.’ ”
Accord: Howell v. Indemnity Co.,
The question presented then is: Who, within the purview of the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Act of 1953 (Chapter 20, Article 9A), was the owner of the 1953 Oldsmobile on 3 November 1962?
G.S. 20-279.1 (9) defines “owner” as “A person who holds the legal title of a motor vehicle, or in the event a motor vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of this article.” Under this definition the word “owner” embraces the holder of title and a mortgagor, conditional vendee or lessee having the right of purchase and the right of possession. See
Insurance Co. v. Hayes,
The evidence in this case shows that on the date the accident occurred, 3 Novеmber 1962, the registered title holder of the 1953 Oldsmobile in question was Arthur Lee Charles, not *586 the insured Myers. In order to transfer title, G.S. 20-72 (b) as amended by the General Assembly in 1961 prоvided that the owner shall “ ... endorse an assignment and warranty of title, including in such endorsement the name and address of the transferee and the date оf transfer, in form approved by the Department upon the reverse side of the certificate of title or execute an assignment and warranty of title of such vehicle and a statement of all liens or encumbrances thereon, which statement shall be verified under oath by the owner, who shall deliver the certificate of title to the purchaser or transferee at the time of delivering the vehicle. . .. Transfer of ownership in a vehiсle by an owner is1 not effective until the provisions of this subsection have been complied with.”
In
Insurance Co. v. Insurance Co.,
“We hold therefore that after 1 July 1961, the effective dаte of the amendments, no title passed to the purchaser of a motor vehicle until (1) the certificate of title has been assigned by the vendоr, (2) delivered to the vendee or his agent, and (3) application made for a new certificate of title. This accords with prior decisions in Bank v. Motor Co., supra [264 N.C. 568 ,142 S.E. 2d 166 ], and Credit Co. v. Norwood, supra [257 N.C. 87 ,125 S.E. 2d 369 ].” (The accident in the present case occurred 3 November 1962.)
See
Insurance Co. v. Insurance Co.,
In this case, there is no еvidence that Myers was the holder of a legal title to the Oldsmobile in question or that he was a mortgagor, conditional vendee, or lessee, hаving the right of purchase and the right of possession. Insurance Co. v. Hayes, supra. The only evidence offered by plaintiff concerning the ownership of the 1953 Oldsmobile was the testimоny of one Billy Joe Wright. Wright testified that he had been the owner of a 1953 Oldsmobile, serial No. 1546464. (It is noted that the insurance policy in question described the insured аutomobile as a 1953 Oldsmobile, serial No. R546464.) Wright undertook to testify that he sold this automobile and transferred the title to Charles: that during the latter part of May 1962 hе *587 saw Myers sign on the Charles title certificate a purchaser application for a new certificate of title to that vehicle; and thаt he also saw a representative of the Lexington State IBank sign this title certificate to Myers. Both the application and the title certificate were signed before a notary public. Wright further undertook to testify that his sale of the automobile to Charles had been financed by the Lexingtоn State Bank and that when Charles failed to pay the bank he (Wright) paid the note and the bank transferred title to Myers. Wright further testified that he took a pеrsonal lien on the car, the bank gave him the title certificate which he gave to Myers so that Myers could get his insurance, and that was the last he еver saw of this certificate. The court sustained defendant’s objection to Wright’s testimony concerning the title certificate. Plaintiff assigns this as error.
Neither Myers nor his wife testified concerning the title to the car although the attorney for the plaintiff stipulated at a pretrial conference that both were available and would testify. Ordinarily, a document is the best evidence of its own contents, and before parol testimony is competent to prove the contents the party offering such testimony must first account satisfactorily for his failure to produce the original — such as, proof of the loss or destruction of the original.
Orr v. Twiggs,
There was no attempt to show that the registеred title owner Charles had transferred title in the manner prescribed by G.S. 20-72 (b) or that the Lexington State Bank, if it had a lien, had foreclosed this lien or complied with G.S. 20-77 in order to procure a new title certificate. Under these circumstances, Charles was still the owner of the vehicle on the date оf the accident in question.
Insurance Co. v. Hayes, supra; Insurance Co. v. Insurance Co.,
The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
Affirmed.