Opinion ID: 108350
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Emma Perez

Text: Emma Perez' posture is entirely different. Except for possible emotional strain resulting from her husband's predicament, she was in no way involved in the Pinkerton accident. She was not present when it occurred and no negligence or nonfeasance on her part contributed to it. Emma thus finds herself in a position where, having done no wrong, she nevertheless is deprived of her operator's license. This comes about because the Perez vehicle concededly was community property under § 25-211 (A), and because, for some reason, the judgment was confessed as to her as well as against her husband. As one amicus brief describes it, Emma, a fault-free driver, is without her license solely because she is the impecunious wife of an impecunious, negligent driver in a community property state. At this point a glance at the Arizona community property system perhaps is indicated. Emma Perez was a proper nominal defendant in the Pinkerton lawsuit, see Donato v. Fishburn, 90 Ariz. 210, 367 P. 2d 245 (1961), but she was not a necessary party there. First National Bank v. Reeves, 27 Ariz. 508, 517, 234 P. 556, 560 (1925); Bristol v. Moser, 55 Ariz. 185, 190-191, 99 P. 2d 706, 709 (1940). However, a judgment against a marital community based upon the husband's tort committed without the wife's knowledge or consent does not bind her separate property. Ruth v. Rhodes, 66 Ariz. 129, 138, 185 P. 2d 304, 310 (1947). The judgment would, of course, bind the community property vehicle to the extent permitted by Arizona law. See § 33-1124. In Arizona during coverture personal property may be disposed of only by the husband. § 25-211 (B). The community personalty is subject to the husband's dominance in management and control. Mortensen v. Knight, 81 Ariz. 325, 334, 305 P. 2d 463, 469 (1956). The wife has no power to make contracts binding the common property. § 25-214 (A). Her power to contract is limited to necessaries for herself and the children. § 25-215. Thus, as the parties appear to agree, she could neither enter into a contract for the purchase of an automobile nor acquire insurance upon it except by use of her separate property. The Court of Appeals ruled that Mrs. Perez' posture, as the innocent wife who had no connection with the negligent conduct that led to the confession and entry of judgment, was, under the logic of Kesler and Reitz, a distinction without a significant difference even though she had no alternative. 421 F. 2d 619, 622-623. The court opined that the spouse can acquire an automobile with her separate funds and that negligent operation of it on separate business would then not call into question the liability of the other spouse. It described Emma's legal status as closely analogous to that of the automobile owner who permits another person to drive, and it regarded as authority cases upholding a State's right to revoke the owner's license and registration after judgment had been entered against him and remains unsatisfied. The husband was described, under Arizona law, as the managing agent of the wife in the control of the community automobile, and the driver's licenses of both husband and wife are an integral part of the ball of wax, which is the basis of the Arizona community property laws. The loss of her license is the price an Arizona wife must pay for negligent driving by her husband of the community vehicle when the resulting judgment is not paid. 421 F. 2d, at 624. For what it is worth, Emma's affidavit is far more persuasive of hardship than Adolfo's. She relates the family automobile to the children and their medical needs and to family purchasing at distant discount stores. But I need not, and would not, decide her case on the representations in her affidavit. I conclude that the reasoning of the Court of Appeals, in its application to Emma Perez and her operator's license, does not comport with the purpose and policy of the Bankruptcy Act and that it effects a result at odds with the Supremacy Clause. Emma's subordinate position with respect to the community's personal property, and her complete lack of connection with the Pinkerton accident and with the negligence that occasioned it, are strange accompaniments for the deprival of her operator's license. The nexus to the state police power, claimed to exist because of her marriage to the negligent Adolfo and the community property character of the accident vehicle, is, for me, elusive and unconvincing. The argument based on Arizona's appropriate concern with highway safety, that prompts me to adhere to the Reitz-Kesler rationale for Adolfo, is drained of all force and persuasion when applied to the innocent Emma. Despite the underlying community property legal theory, Emma had an incident of ownership in the family automobile only because it was acquired during coverture. She had no control over Adolfo's use of the vehicle and she could not forbid his use as she might have been able to do were it her separate property. Thus, the state purpose in deterring the reckless driver and his unsafe driving has only undeserved punitive application to Emma. She is personally penalized not only with respect to the operation of the Perez car but also with respect to any automobile. I therefore would hold that under these circumstances the State's action, under § 28-1163 (B), in withholding from Emma her operator's license is not, within the language of Reitz, an appropriate means for Arizona to insure competence and care on the part of [Emma] and to protect others using the highways, 314 U. S., at 36, and that it interferes with the paramount federal interest in her bankruptcy discharge and violates the Supremacy Clause. [For Appendix to opinion of BLACKMUN, J., see post, p. 672.]