## Facts

- Young, a New Jersey resident, lent his automobile to Balbino for a day without restricting its use; the bailment was made and the car delivered in New Jersey.
- Balbino drove the car into New York and, while negligently operating it there, struck and injured Masci, a New York resident.
- Evidence supported a finding that Balbino took the car to New York with Young’s express or implied permission.
- Masci relied on a New York statute imposing liability on an automobile owner for injuries caused by negligent operation by any person legally using the vehicle with the owner’s express or implied permission, whether or not the driver was acting in the owner’s business.

## Issues

1. Whether imposing statutory owner liability on a nonresident whose vehicle, with his permission, is negligently operated in New York violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when the owner was not present in New York and the driver was not the owner’s agent.
2. Whether a New Jersey court may apply New York’s owner-liability statute to the nonresident owner despite the bailment occurring in New Jersey and New Jersey law not imposing comparable vicarious liability.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for Masci.
- Applying New York’s owner-liability statute to Young did not violate due process.
- A state may attach civil responsibility to the use of its highways by vehicles operated with the owner’s consent, including when the owner is a nonresident and the driver is not the owner’s agent.

## Legal Principles

- A state may condition the use of its highways by imposing liability on an automobile owner for injuries caused by negligent operation by a permissive user.
- Due process is satisfied where the owner entrusted the car to another and permitted, expressly or impliedly, its operation in the state imposing the liability.
- Owner liability under such a statute may be imposed without proving a master–servant or agency relationship between owner and driver.
- A forum state may apply the accident state’s substantive liability rule to a nonresident owner in these circumstances without violating the Fourteenth Amendment.

## Conclusion

The Court held that New York could constitutionally impose vicarious liability on a nonresident automobile owner for injuries caused in New York by a permissive user’s negligence, and New Jersey could enforce that liability without denying due process.


Young v. Masci, 289 U.S. 253 (1933)