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186 Kan. 484

350 P.2d 783

Stebbins v. Heidebrecht

Supreme Court of Kansas

Decided April 9, 1960

Supreme Court of Kansas · decided 1960-04-09

Relies on Weaver v. Hartford Fire Insurance · Fruit v. Stacy · Goetz v. Bland

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1960-04-09

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently October 2009

4 district · 4 state decisions

2019601970198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Jackson, J.

¶1(dissenting): Finding myself unable to agree with the conclusion reached by the majority of the court, I must dissent.

¶2I believe that the real question in this case has been misstated by the parties. I would agree that the father as a trustee for his son is the real party in interest and may bring the action as plaintiff, cf. G. S. 1949, 60-403. But the plaintiff’s son, who was the negligent driver of the car, and who under the stipulated facts was the beneficial owner of the car, has been made a party to the action. In my opinion, under the facts, the negligence of the beneficial owner of the car would bar the recovery of a judgment by the holder of the bare legal title.

¶3Several of the former cases of this court have recognized the beneficial ownership of automobiles in persons who were not the holders of the certificate of title.

¶4In the case of In re Estate of Baumstimler, 159 Kan. 316, 153 P. 2d 927, an intervivos gift was held valid as against third parties although the donor retained the certificate of title in his own name.

¶5In Weaver v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 168 Kan. 80, 211 P. 2d 113, an equitable owner of an automobile, although he had not as yet acquired any certificate of title, was held to have an insurable interest in the car.

¶6In Fruit v. Stacy, 168 Kan. 632, 215 P. 2d 140, a dealer had sold an automobile to a purchaser, and delivered a certificate of title using the wrong engine numbers. The purchaser was allowed to sue the dealer for misrepresentations concerning the car, and the defense based on the defective certificate was held to be of no merit.

¶7In Crow v. Hershberger, 170 Kan. 492, 226 P. 2d 846, it was held that an owner of an automobile could establish his interest therein as against one holding the certificate of title.

¶8*489There can be no question but that G. S. 1959 Supp. 8-135, is designed to and does protect bona fide purchasers and mortgagees for value. But this is not such a case.

¶9In my opinion, the judgment of the district court in this $500 law suit should be reversed.

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