Opinion ID: 2074925
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: conduct relating to use, acquisition and registration of 1978 cadillac seville

Text: 1. In December 1977, Judge McKenney purchased a 1978 Cadillac Seville through the assistance of his long-time friend and neighbor Essue Convington, a General Motors employee. 2. Essue Covington lived on the same street as Judge McKenney, was employed by General Motors and was entitled to purchase General Motors automobiles at a substantial discount. 3. During 1977, Judge McKenney discussed with Mr. Covington obtaining a new Cadillac Seville for Judge McKenney. As a General Motors employee, Essue Covington was entitled to buy, at a substantial discount, one new car per model year for his personal use or the use of his family. This privilege could not be exercised on behalf of friends such as Judge McKenney, and Essue Covington was obligated to retain the vehicle for not less than six months. 4. At Judge McKenney's request, Mr. Covington ordered a 1978 Cadillac Seville from General Motors with sun roof, leather seats and wire wheels as options (Exh. 1). The suggested retail price was $16,603. The total cost to a General Motors employee was $12,265. This was the amount paid by Judge McKenney. The car was to be delivered to a Cadillac automobile dealership in Boston. 5. The car arrived at the dealership about December 7, 1977. Essue Covington visited Judge McKenney at the Roxbury District Court and was given two cashier's checks to pay for the car  one for $10,629 (Exh. 2), the proceeds of a bank loan and one for $1,750 (Exh. 2A), the proceeds of the sale of Judge McKenney's 1973 Cadillac. Essue Covington took the checks (which totalled $12,379) to the dealership, paid $12,265 for the car and received a check payable to him of approximately $114 (Exh. 3). Essue Covington signed a receipt for the car (Exh. 4) and drove the car to the Roxbury District Court and delivered it to Judge McKenney. 6. At the time the 1978 Seville was delivered to Essue Covington, the dealership, as part of its usual course of business, completed the RMV-1, an Application for Registration which showed Essue Covington as the purchaser, the purchase price of $12,265, and the 5% sales tax due as $613 (Exh. 5). 7. The typed RMV-1 prepared by the dealership was given to Essue Covington who delivered it to Judge McKenney (Exh. 5). Judge McKenney did not register the Cadillac in accordance with this typed RMV-1, nor did he register it for seven months thereafter. 8. In December 1977, Judge McKenney accepted a suggestion of a court officer to borrow repair plates to use on the Cadillac. Using repair plates, he operated the Cadillac until June 26, 1978 without registering it. 9. From December 8, 1977 to the end of 1977, Judge McKenney used 1977 repair plate 4753A which a court officer obtained from a friend in Sudbury. The court officer obtained a 1978 plate (Repair Plate 4753B) from the same friend and that plate was used until June 26, 1978. 10. Judge McKenney did not register the Cadillac in his name in December 1977 because he wished to protect Essue Covington from violating the General Motors policy which required that employees buying new cars keep them for at least six months. 11. If Judge McKenney registered the Cadillac in his own or Essue Covington's name in December 1977, a sales tax on $12,265 would then have been due. Judge McKenney did not pay a sales tax in December 1977. At the time he received the car in December 1977, Judge McKenney's intention was to register it in his own name six months later. In June 1978, Judge McKenney paid a sales tax on $8500 on the transaction set forth in paragraph 13, infra. 12. In June 1978, Essue Covington wanted to buy a 1979 General Motors car for himself and advised Judge McKenney that he should register the car in his (Judge McKenney's) own name. 13. About June 26, 1978, Judge McKenney dictated and had typed in his office a Bill of Sale which stated that Essue Covington as a representative of General Motors  Cadillac Motor Division sold the Cadillac to Kathleen McKenney on that date for $8,500 (Exh. 6) and that the amount had been paid in full. No such sale took place on that date. Judge McKenney did not pay $8,500 to Essue Covington at that time. Essue Covington was not a representative of General Motors or of the Cadillac Motor Division. The signature that appears on the Bill of Sale (Exh. 6) is not the signature of Essue Covington and the evidence did not disclose who affixed that signature. 14. The Bill of Sale purported to be notarized before an employee in the Roxbury District Court Clerk's Office. The employee had no memory of notarizing Essue Covington's signature or any Bill of sale to Kathleen McKenney. 15. Judge McKenney denied that the instrument of June 26, 1978 was a Bill of Sale and described it as an instrument of convenience. 16. On or about June 26, 1978 Judge McKenney instructed the same court officer who had obtained the repair plate to register the Cadillac Seville. The court officer went to the insurance company to obtain insurance. The RMV-1 prepared earlier by the dealership (Exh. 5) was not used in the registration. Another RMV-1 was received by the court officer from Judge McKenney showing that the car had been sold on June 26, 1978 by the dealership to Kathleen McKenney for $8,500 (Exh. 7). The dealership was not in business in June 1978. The RMV-1 bore the purported signature of the manager of the dealership but the name was misspelled and the signature was not genuine. The evidence did not disclose who affixed that signature. 17. The court officer took the Bill of Sale and the RMV-1 (Exh. 6, 7) to the Registry together with two bank checks from Judge McKenney, one to pay sales tax and one for registration fees. Because of the notarized Bill of Sale containing the description of Essue Covington as a representative of General Motors, the Registry accepted the figure of $8,500 which was stated in the Bill of Sale as the purchase price and registered the car. 18. In June 1978, the automobile had been driven 9,000 miles by Judge McKenney. At the time of the registration in June 1978, the Department of Corporations and Taxation would have imposed a sales tax based upon the list price less ten per cent in the absence of the notarized Bill of Sale. 19. In January 1979, the insurance company paid Judge McKenney $11,896 as the fair value of the Cadillac which had been inundated by water at Harbor Towers (Exh. 8).