State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Dep't of Motor Vehicles
Opinion
Opinion
Baron, J.
Respondent State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (hereafter State Farm), filed a petition for writ of mandate in the superior court, seeking, inter alia, an order requiring appellant Department of Motor Vehicles (hereafter the DMV) to identify a purchaser of a car. The superior court ordered the DMV to release this information, and the DMV appealed. We affirm.
Facts
In February 1992, Brian Moore leased a new Mercedes Benz 500 SL from the Mercedes Benz Credit Corporation (hereafter MBCC) and obtained an automobile liability policy for the car from State Farm. In August 1993, Moore placed the car on consignment with Celebrity Motorcars, Ltd. (hereafter Celebrity), seeking someone to assume his lease payments. Moore alleges that in October 1993, he discovered that Celebrity had closed and that his car was missing. When Moore reported the missing car to the police, they purportedly told him that Celebrity had stolen approximately 20 other vehicles. Celebrity’s owner later pled guilty to forgery and theft.
Moore told State Farm he had learned that Celebrity had sold his car to an unknown doctor in Malibu (hereafter the subsequent purchaser), and Moore made a claim…