Hawkins v. M & J Finance Corp.

The defendant insists that the plaintiff’s conduct in delivering his certificates of title to used-car dealer Thorne, endorsed in blank, was sufficient, when considered with the rest of the evidence adduced below, to estop the plaintiff from asserting title to the two motor vehicles as against the chattel mortgage made by Thorne to the defendant Finance Company.

Decision here turns on whether the trial court erred in failing to submit to the jury this question of estoppel.

The doctrine of estoppel by conduct- — estoppel in pais — rests upon principles of equity. It is designed to aid the law in…