Trucking company was able to rebut the presumption of ownership of a vehicle allegedly involved in a motor vehicle accident with no evidence of the vehicle being in use or a driver in its employ being near the accident location at the time of occurrence.

This matter involved an otherwise standard motor-vehicle action but with an alleged hit-and-run driver. The plaintiff, using a trailer license plate number, claimed the involved tractor-trailer belonged to the defendant, which rebutted this with uncontroverted evidence that no tractor nor driver it owned or employed was anywhere near the location of the accident on the date and time. Since the plaintiff could not prove it was the defendant’s trailer, the court further relied on the standing precedent that a trailer itself is not a dangerous instrumentality, and with the presumption of ownership of the tractor rebutted, summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff’s case was affirmed.

_{Case Law Alerts, 2nd Quarter, April 2023 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2023 Marshall Dennehey, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}