Hartford Insurance v. Overland Body Tow, Inc.
Citation: 11 Kan.App.2d373,724P.2d687 (1986) · Decided: 1986-07-11 · Court: Kansas Court of Appeals. Full reporter opinion retrieved from the Caselaw Access Project; this is an unofficial host of primary judicial text, with the original JSON preserved.
Source note (2026-10-18):
- Links on this page to
https://static.case.law/kan-app-2d/11/cases/0373-01.json,https://static.case.law/kan/295/cases/0786-01.jsonare an (unofficial Caselaw Access Project copy, retrieved before 2026-10-18; host disallows automated access); no official or otherwise permitted full-text copy was located on 2026-10-18.
Facts
Insurer held title to stolen New Mexico car. Officer arrested driver and ordered tow under 8-1570. After failed ownership searches and 660 days storage, tower claimed USD 2,667 and threatened auction. Insurer sued in replevin; trial court allowed 58-201 lien.
Holding And Reasoning
Reversed.58-201 required owner request/consent for work/improvements; police tow authority did not confer owner agency or implied consent. Repair statute did not grant storage/safekeeping lien.58-208 supplied remedy only for an already existing lien. Constructive/gratuitous bailment without owner agreement created no common-law lien on these facts. Car was not abandoned within the then 8-1102 theory. Court did not reach 58-201 constitutional challenge after rejecting lien. This does not hold that every tow under every statute is lien less.
Practical Impact And Verified Treatment
8-1103,first enacted 1987, now expressly creates distinct lien for qualifying owner/law-enforcement/local-authorized towing. Schoenholz (2012) cites Hartford gratuitous-bailee principle, then distinguishes livestock statute. Retrieved 2007 District of Kansas Hundley opinion also distinguishes 58-201 consent from 8-1103; its separate bankruptcy-turnover analysis is not certified as current law.
Primary decision: 11 Kan.App.2d373,724P.2d687 (1986). Current statutes/later primary treatment: 58-201, 58-208, 8-1103, retrieved primary treatment, retrieved primary treatment.
Status Boundary
The complete holding and the stated statutory/later-opinion treatment are verified. This is not a comprehensive still-good-law certificate or an assertion that every later citing decision has been reviewed. No negative-treatment conclusion is inferred from an empty search. The cited older provisions apply only to the historical transaction unless current text is separately identified.
Applies In
kansas · court-ordered-administrative-and-creditor-sales
Legal information, not legal advice. Verify the current primary authorities and actual transaction/order before acting.