Opinion ID: 2219657
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Heading: Coverage for Gary.

Text: The Farm & City policy provides coverage for damages for which any `insured' becomes legally responsible because of an auto accident. An owner of a motor vehicle becomes liable for damages done by the vehicle because of negligence of the driver when driven with the consent of the owner. Iowa Code § 321.493 (1993). Farm & City urges that Gary is not liable because his vehicle was being driven without his consent when the accident occurred. When ownership of a vehicle is admitted, a rebuttable presumption is created that the vehicle was operated with the owner's consent. Moritz v. Maack, 437 N.W.2d 898, 900 (Iowa 1989); Van Zwol v. Branon, 440 N.W.2d 589, 591 (Iowa 1989). An owner's consent to use a vehicle may be either express or implied from the circumstances. Moritz, 437 N.W.2d at 900. The consent may be limited to the extent a permittee may allow a second permittee to use the vehicle. Id. at 901. If the owner grants broad, unrestricted consent to the first permittee, a factual determination must be made as to whether the consent includes an implied grant of authority to allow a second permittee to use the vehicle. Id.; Van Zwol, 440 N.W.2d at 591-92. The owner's consent to the use of an automobile by a second permittee, if not expressly provided, may be shown by the circumstances surrounding the original grant of permission, or by a course of conduct on the part of the owner consistent with the first permittee's grant of authority. If the owner denies that the second permittee operated the vehicle with his or her consent, consent may still be established by the owner's course of conduct inconsistent with this denial. Ultimately, the issue of consent turns on the particular facts and circumstances of each case. Id. (citations omitted). The district court determined that the initial grant of authority from Gary to his brother was broad enough to include an implied grant of authority to allow Tuma to use the vehicle. Brian was driving Gary's vehicle regularly with the knowledge and consent of Gary. Gary had given Brian broad permission to use the vehicle with no restrictions as far as a third party's use was concerned. Neither Gary nor Brian testified as to any restrictions that Gary had placed on his brother's use of the vehicle. We find sufficient evidence to support the district court's finding that Tuma was driving the Osweiler vehicle with the implied consent of Gary. Farm & City urges that the family rules are relevant in determining whether implied consent existed. Kathy Vosika, the mother of Gary and Brian, testified that Brian was under family instructions not to let anyone else drive their cars. The evening of the accident she gave Brian the usual speech on rules consisting of don't drink and drive, don't let anybody drive the car, and be in by 11:30 p.m. Although her admonitions are commended, she was not the owner of the Thunderbird. The family rules are irrelevant to what restrictions the owner of the vehicle, Gary, may have placed on his brother.