Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Market Street Garage & Towing Service, Inc. (1974)

Citation: 2 Mass. App. Ct. 800 (1974) (rescript) · Court: Massachusetts Appeals Court · Decided: March 14, 1974.

Source note (2026-10-18):

• Links on this page to https://static.case.law/mass-app-ct/2/cases/0800-01.json are 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.

Text retrieved from the Caselaw Access Project static archive (Harvard Law School Library), an unofficial digitization of the Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports.

Facts

Liberty Mutual brought replevin to recover an automobile that had been towed by order of the Boston police. The garage answered by claiming a lien for storage. A District Court judge found the car had not been stolen (G.L. c. 266, § 29A) or in an accident (G.L. c. 255, § 39A), found the evidence did not warrant a lien under c. 255, § 25, but nevertheless ruled that the car had been towed and stored “in a legal manner” and that the garage had a lien for its charges. The Appellate Division dismissed the report.

Holding

The garage had no lien. It conceded it had none at common law (citing North End Auto Park, Inc. v. Petringa Trucking Co., 337 Mass. 618, 620 (1958)), and on the record no lien attached under c. 255, § 25 or § 39A or c. 266, § 29A; the garage cited no other statute, and nothing showed the car was towed under a regulation adopted under St. 1929, c. 263, § 2. The Appellate Division’s order was reversed and a finding entered for Liberty.

Reasoning

A storage lien on a towed vehicle in Massachusetts exists only if a statute creates it; the garage-keeper lien of § 25 requires placement “by or with the consent of the owners,” and the § 39A lien and sale procedure apply only to vehicles removed from the scene of an accident by the listed officers.

Practical impact

• The garage failed to establish a lien on the record. The opinion decided possession/lien entitlement, not the effect of an actual sale on an innocent purchaser’s title. Do not infer a universal buyer-title rule from this rescript.
• The current text of G.L. c. 159B, § 6B (retrieved 2026-10-17) gives motor vehicle storage facilities a lien for police-ordered tows, enforceable under the § 39A sale procedure; when that lien was enacted relative to this decision was not verified. A buyer at a tow-lien sale should still confirm which statute the seller relies on.

Good-law status

The retrieved current c. 159B, § 6B supplies a separate police-tow lien absent from the statutes applied in the rescript. That statutory comparison is not judicial subsequent treatment. Comprehensive good-law/treatment review remains needs_verification.

Applies in →

massachusetts · towing-storage-and-mechanics-lien-sales · motor-vehicles

Sources

• https://www.masscasesarchive.com/masscases.com/cases/app/2/2massappct800.html — full rescript independently retrieved 2026-10-17, unofficial reporter reproduction; the same page also contains an unrelated Anderson rescript, which is excluded from this holding. Fresh CAP request returned 403; the earlier actual CAP retrieval below is preserved.

• {case, https://static.case.law/mass-app-ct/2/cases/0800-01.json, retrieved 2026-10-17} — rescript opinion (unofficial CAP copy of 2 Mass. App. Ct. 800).

• {statute, https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter159B/Section6B, retrieved 2026-10-17} — current G.L. c. 159B, § 6B lien.

• {statute, https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter255/Section39A, retrieved 2026-10-17} — G.L. c. 255, § 39A.

Disclaimer. This page is legal information, not legal advice. It summarizes a court decision that may have been limited or distinguished by later authority. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Read the full opinion and consult a licensed attorney before acting.