South Carolina Insurance v. South Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance
South Carolina Insurance v. South Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance
Opinion of the Court
At the conclusion of S. C. Ins. Co.’s case in chief, Farm Bureau moved for an involuntary nonsuit with prejudice. The motion was denied and from the denial of this motion Farm Bureau appeals. We reverse.
.At trial, Hood, who was the only witness for S. C. Ins. Co., testified that he had sold the van to Gaddy, but, on cross-examination Hood admitted that (1) Gaddy told him he was going to buy the car Monday morning, (2) no money had changed hands, (3) Gaddy was not obligated to pay for the van if something happened to it over the weekend, (4) if he did not like the van, he did not have to buy it, (5) nothing (no paper) was given Gaddy to evidence ownership, (6) he (Hood) put his dealership tags on the van
The above admissions by Hood cannot be reconciled with the averment that Gaddy bought the van on Friday, February 13, 1981. We hold that the only reasonable inference to be drawn from Hood’s testimony is that Hood delivered the van to Gaddy on a trial basis with the hope that Gaddy would decide to buy the van on Monday. Thus, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to S. C. Ins. Co., as we must, the nonsuit motion should have been granted, and the trial judge erred in not granting it.
Reversed and remanded.
There was no compliance with Section 56-3-220, South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, which provides for the attachment and display of “sold” cards as evidence of the sale of a motor vehicle by a dealer. But of more importance, Section 56-3-2320, South Carolina Code of Laws (1976) provides that dealer license plates, “shall be used by the dealer purchasing them exclusively on vehicles owned by such dealer-” (Emphasis ours.)
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.