Ambiguous Statutory Language Leads To Certified Question
STORIE v. RANDY'S AUTO SALES (December 17, 2009)
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Larry Storie purchased a truck from the Duckett Truck Center in June of 2004. Unbeknownst to Storie, the truck had quite a history. Duckett purchased the truck from West Side Auto Parts in February, who purchased it from Randy's Auto Sales in January, who purchased it from St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, also in January. St. Paul acquired the truck after it was involved in an accident -- an accident in which its driver was killed -- and declared a total loss. St. Paul applied for a certificate of title in Tennessee. The title was issued to St. Paul and forwarded to Randy's -- and to Westside -- and to Duckett. No one applied for a salvage title. Storie learned of his truck's checkered past only after 18 more months and 200,000 more miles. He brought suit against Randy's. He alleges that Randy's violated an Indiana statute that requires a person who obtains a wrecked vehicle without a salvage title to apply for one within 31 days of his receipt of title. The district court granted summary judgment to Randy's, concluding that it could not have obtained a salvage title since it no longer owned the vehicle by the time it received the title from St. Paul. Storie appeals.
In their opinion, Judges Cudahy, Wood and Sykes certified a question to the Indiana Supreme Court. The Court noted that, read literally, the Indiana statute could apply to current and former owners. However, the Court identified several competing interpretations of the statute -- some supporting its application to former owners and others not. For example, one argument that it might be limited to current owners is that it requires the state to issue a certificate of a salvage title as proof of ownership. That suggests that a former owner should not apply for the title. An opposing argument is that the presumed purpose of the statute, to protect consumers from purchasing wrecked vehicles, could be evaded simply by selling the vehicle before the certificate of title is transferred. The Court concluded that the statute was ambiguous and that the question raised should be answered by the Indiana Supreme Court. Before the Court certified the question, however, it had to conclude that the answer to the question would be outcome determinative. The Court considered and rejected Randy's alternate arguments, concluded that the answer to the question was outcome determinative and certified it to the Indiana Supreme Court.
