Stolen Car Database

Shortly after purchasing a used car at a small dealership, a Pennsylvania man spent the night in jail when he was wrongfully accused of stealing the car. He sued various parties, including the dealership and the car's previous owner's insurance company, and won. But his victory was short-lived--the verdict was reversed on appeal. The details of this legal saga provide some useful information for Pennsylvania drivers.

The police arrested the man on the mistaken belief that he had stolen the car. The information in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database labeled the car as stolen. The man initially was unable to convince the police that he was the valid owner.

The NCIC is a national computer index of criminal justice information on fugitives, stolen property, and missing persons. It also includes histories of criminal convictions and can be used to determine if an individual has a prior criminal record. The NCIC is available to federal, state, and local law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Connecting through a patrol car laptop computer or by calling their headquarters, law enforcement officers can conduct a nationwide inquiry of the NCIC during a traffic stop to determine if a vehicle is stolen or if the driver is a person wanted by the law. The NCIC response is instantaneous.

In the case involving the wrongfully arrested Pennsylvania man, the arresting officers initially received outdated information from the NCIC, and it took over 24 hours before they learned the truth. During that time, they held the man under arrest. The car had been stolen four years before the man purchased it. The original owner's insurance company had paid fully for the loss, and the insurance company later became the legal owner of the car when it unexpectedly was recovered by the police. The car was auctioned by the insurance company and eventually found its way to the dealership where the Pennsylvania man purchased it.

The man sued the dealership, the salesman, the tag service, his own insurance company, and the insurance company that had briefly held title to the car. He maintained that everyone with whom he had dealt in the transaction had a duty to ensure that the status of the car was corrected in the NCIC. All of the parties, with the exception of the previous owner's insurance company, settled the case before trial. The previous owner's insurance company insisted that it had done nothing wrong. A vehicle reported to the NCIC as stolen can be removed from stolen status only by the law enforcement agency that originated the report.

On appeal, the insurance company won. The Pennsylvania court sympathized with the arrested man but lamented that "not every wrong suffered is compensable" in court. Negligence liability must be based on a particular duty to the injured party. Negligence law does not assume that each of us has a broad duty to all of society. Because the man had no direct relationship with the insurance company, the company was found not liable.

Your car probably is not listed in the NCIC as stolen. But if you have purchased a used car, it may be wise to stop in to your local police department to check on the car's status in the NCIC. While you won't have the right to keep the car if it is stolen property, learning of its status now could spare you a night in jail. If you are about to purchase a used car, you should seriously consider asking your local police to run a check on it before you finalize your purchase.

And, if you ever are stopped by the police and told that NCIC information justifies your arrest, insist that a positive response from the NCIC is not probable cause for your arrest. The FBI website at www.fbi.gov includes the official NCIC policy brochure--it specifically requires that before taking any action on NCIC information a law enforcement officer must contact the agency that entered that information into the NCIC to verify whether the information still is accurate and up-to-date. Only after receiving such confirmation may a police officer make an arrest or take possession of stolen property.

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