Opinion ID: 1784542
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Salvage Law Violations

Text: The insurer concedes that its agents violated the salvage statutes in effect at the time of the sale to Wells, by failing to transmit the title to the Division of Motor Vehicles with an indication that the vehicle was a salvage vehicle (§ 301.227, RSMo Supp.1979 [8] ) and by failing to obtain an affidavit from Wells stating that the vehicle was being acquired for salvage (§ 307.380.2, RSMo 1978 [9] ). It argues that these omissions were not the proximate cause of any damage to the plaintiff. It says that it did not know that Wells had any improper purpose of selling the vehicle to an unknowing purchaser, and that it could rely on his representation that he wanted it for his own use. It also observes that the vehicle could have been restored to over-the-road status if it passed a state inspection. The Corvette had been inspected by Allen before the sale to the plaintiff, in apparent conformity to the governing statutes. So, the insurer argues, the wrongdoing which caused the injury was solely attributable to Wells or Allen or both, and not to it. We disagree. The situation as the jury might have viewed it was well summarized by the trial judge, in the following language: There are several things in the Court's mind that indicates [sic] there has been intentional activity, not the least of which is the fact that double the normal salvage value was received from the buyer in return for which it appears he received a title that was open, the mileage was unlisted, and uncertified, and certainly that interpretation of the evidence would be one that would be viable to the jury and the inferences are to be drawn in favor of the Plaintiff.... The insurer's employees were quite familiar with the motor vehicle salvage statutes. Salvage operations were a part of their daily business. They nevertheless armed Wells with a certificate of title which enabled him to do the very thing the statutes prohibited, marketing the vehicle as an over-the-road vehicle without a salvage report to the Division of Motor Vehicles. The jury might believe that Wells wanted the certificate of title in the form submitted in order to carry out his scheme. The purchase price, well in excess of the salvage value, gives further indication that illicit marketing might be contemplated. It is not unreasonable, in the light of these circumstances, to charge the insurer with the consequences of the subsequent acts of Wells and Allen. The fact that the vehicle subsequently passed inspection by Allen is not controlling. Because of Wells' position with Allen the jury might be suspicious of the inspection. It might also conclude that, had the insurer made it possible for Wells to obtain only a salvage title, revealing that the vehicle had been flooded, Allen would have declined to market the vehicle, or would have taken additional precautions during the inspection, or would have advised the purchaser that the vehicle had been flooded. Williams v. Nuckolls, 644 S.W.2d 670 (Mo.App.1982), does not help the insurer very much. There an automobile dealer had sold a veteran used car without performing the statutory inspection. The purchaser drove the vehicle approximately five miles, at which point the brakes failed. The court held that the purchaser's evidence failed to show that there was a defect in the brakes at the time of sale, or that any defect could have been discovered in the course of an inspection. Here the jury could have concluded that the insurer's omissions were an essential part of the chain of events leading to the plaintiff's unwitting purchase.