Re: Holding a Vehicle Titled to My Niece
Cite me a law that says it is legal to knowingly allow an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle in any state.
Re: Holding a Vehicle Titled to My Niece
Quote:
Quoting
puppybreath
Cite me a law that says it is legal to knowingly allow an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle in any state.
It's not within the OP's lawful ability to allow or disallow it. In most every state, I suspect there is a law that prohibits the owner (something the OP is NOT) of a vehicle from knowingly permitting an unlicensed driver from operating their vehicle. But, in this case, the suggestions have been for the daughter to have her son come for the car, or, for the OP to deliver the car himself, so the issue of the unlicensed driver would appear to be moot.
The OP can stand on his wish to punish the niece all he wants, but, he has no lawful right to withhold the vehicle from the owner of the vehicle or from the person the owner wishes to let have the vehicle. He can take his high road to court if he wants, but he will be guilty of theft if he tries. Best to simply relinquish the vehicle in one of the two aforementioned ways. And, if the unlicensed woman comes to retrieve it, he can call the police and hope they get there to stop her and again impound the vehicle (costing his brother MORE money and maybe causing him to permanently lose the vehicle). His call.
Re: Holding a Vehicle Titled to My Niece
Quote:
Quoting
puppybreath
Cite me a law that says it is legal to knowingly allow an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle in any state.
First, understand that in the U.S. generally the rule is that everything is legal unless there is a law that prohibits it. So, there doesn’t need to be a law that says he may return the car to her even though she doesn’t have a license. Instead, there would need to be a law stating that he is prohibited from giving her the car back when she does not have a license. Georgia Code 40-5-122 states: “No person shall knowingly authorize or permit a motor vehicle owned by him or under his control to be driven upon any highway by any person who is not authorized under this chapter or who is not licensed for the type or class of vehicles to be driven or in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter.” (Bolding added.)
OP is clearly not the owner of the car. The issue then is whether he is a person who has the car “under his control.” The state motor vehicle statutes do not directly define what it means for a person to have a vehicle “under his control.” Nor did I find a Georgia case that directly addresses that. However, there are a number of cases that refer to control of the vehicle for purposes of DUI or for negligence of an owner of a vehicle under the family purpose doctrine. The cases seem to make it clear that control means more than having possession of the vehicle, as the OP does. Rather, control seems to be a person who is in a position to operate (i.e. drive) the vehicle. So, if Bob, the owner of the car gives the keys to Jerry to drive it and Jerrry then takes the car out for a spin, Jerry is in control of the car. If Jerry then allows his girlfriend Amy to drive the car and Amy is unlicensed, Jerry would violate the Georgia Code I cited above.
But I see nothing that suggests that a person merely storing the car has the vehicle “under his control” so I don’t see that the OP would violate this statute by turning the car over to its owner. In short, I don’t see any law in Georgia that would support the OP’s position of allowing him to withhold the car from the owner simply because the owner is unlicensed and my drive it. It is the owner of the car and those in control of (operating) the car that are prohibited from letting an unlicensed person drive it.
Re: Holding a Vehicle Titled to My Niece
I am not saying it is legal for him to prevent the owner from retrieving her car.
The OP picked the car up from impound, took it to his house and placed it in his garage. To pick up a vehicle from impound you have to either be the owner, or be authorized by the owner or some other authority to pick it up. Which means he was given control of the car.
The owner, with a suspended license, could not have redeemed the car from impound without a licensed driver to operate it.
If she shows up with a licensed driver, you have to hand the keys over. Personally, if she showed up alone, I would open the garage door, put the keys on the hood and get it out of my hair. The OP does not have the legal right to keep her property away from her, he does have the right to avoid breaking the law himself.
Re: Holding a Vehicle Titled to My Niece
To the extent that you are arguing that the OP was once the agent of the owner in relation to his recovery of the vehicle from impound, that agency has been expressly terminated. Further, the owner has offered to have the car picked up by a licensed driver, and the OP has refused that request.
If the OP wants to keep the owner from getting her car and driving it away, based upon the belief that she's not licensed, his solution is to call the police if and when she comes to take the car and drive it away. But he has no legal right to demand that she show him proof that she is licensed when she comes to recover the car, let alone to refuse to allow her to designate a licensed driver to recover her car.