Court Opinion

ID: 9717503
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:04:42.083055+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:53.573323
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, P.J.
(dissenting). I am unable to agree with the majority’s finding that a violation *88of the motorcycle license statute constitutes negligence per se. As stated in Anno: Lack of proper automobile registration or operator’s license as evidence of operator’s negligence, 29 ALR2d 963, 965-966:
"The overwhelming weight of authority * * * is to the effect that failure to have an operator’s license on the part of the person operating a motor vehicle involved in an accident is not evidence of negligence, inasmuch as violation of the statute requiring such a license has no causal connection with the accident and is immaterial and incompetent in determining whether at the time of the accident in question the operator was guilty of negligent or contributory negligence in the operation of the vehicle.”
This Court has recently found that evidence of a driver’s failure to be properly licensed is inadmissible to prove negligence:
"Admission, over defense counsel’s objection, of testimony by a police officer that defendant produced a false driver’s license at the scene of the accident, and of the falsified license, was error. Contrary to the trial court’s conclusion, this testimony and the license were not admissible as substantive evidence to show defendant was a poor driver and therefore more likely to be negligent, MRE 404. Nor, it is clear, was such extrinsic evidence admissible for purposes of impeachment. MRE 608(b).” People v Grisham, 125 Mich App 280, 286-287; 335 NW2d 680 (1983).
Likewise, I would hold that Mr. Klanseck’s failure to have a license to drive a motorcycle is not evidence of negligence.
Even considering the older cases relied on by the majority, I would hold this evidence to be inadmissible. Specifically, the evidence was not sufficient to support the conclusion that the statutory viola*89tion was a proximate cause of the accident. Zeni v Anderson, 397 Mich 117, 138, fn 2; 243 NW2d 270 (1976). The accident was caused by a defect in the wheel of the motorcycle which allowed a spoke to puncture the inner tube. Plaintiffs failure to obtain proper licensing to drive the motorcycle had no causal relation to the accident. The majority’s reliance on Turri v Bozek, 79 Mich App 212; 261 NW2d 264 (1977), rev’d on other grounds 406 Mich 900; 276 NW2d 457 (1979), is misplaced since in the instant case the accident was caused by a defect in the motor vehicle. Ross v Alexander, 74 Mich App 666; 254 NW2d 605 (1977), is closer to the facts of this case. In that case, this Court found that violation of a local ordinance relating to vehicular weight restrictions was not in any way related to the harm caused.
I believe that plaintiffs violation of the motorcycle operator’s licensing statute was not in any way related to the accident in the instant case. Considering the fact that the jury found plaintiff 60% negligent, I feel that the trial court committed reversible error in admitting evidence on plaintiffs failure to obtain a proper license.
I would reverse the trial court.