60-168. Certificate of title; loss or mutilation; duplicate certificate; subsequent purchaser, rights; recovery of original; duty of owner.

(1) In the event of a lost or mutilated certificate of title, the owner of the vehicle or the holder of a lien on the vehicle shall apply, upon a form prescribed by the department, to the department or to any county treasurer for a duplicate certificate of title and shall pay the fee prescribed by section 60-156. The application shall be signed and sworn to by the person making the application or a person authorized to sign under section 60-151. Thereupon the county treasurer, with the approval of the department, or the department shall issue a duplicate certificate of title to the person entitled to receive the certificate of title. If the records of the title have been destroyed pursuant to section 60-152, the county treasurer shall issue a duplicate certificate of title to the person entitled to receive the same upon such showing as the county treasurer may deem sufficient. If the applicant cannot produce such proof of ownership, he or she may apply directly to the department and submit such evidence as he or she may have, and the department may, if it finds the evidence sufficient, authorize the county treasurer to issue a duplicate certificate of title. A duplicate certificate of title so issued shall show only those unreleased liens of record. The new purchaser shall be entitled to receive an original certificate of title upon presentation of the assigned duplicate copy of the certificate of title, properly assigned to the new purchaser, to the county treasurer prescribed in section 60-144.

(2) Any purchaser of a vehicle for which a certificate of title was lost or mutilated may at the time of purchase require the seller of the same to indemnify him or her and all subsequent purchasers of the vehicle against any loss which he, she, or they may suffer by reason of any claim presented upon the original certificate. In the event of the recovery of the original certificate of title by the owner, he or she shall forthwith surrender the same to the county treasurer or the department for cancellation.

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Annotations

Issuance of duplicate certificates is authorized, but purchaser is charged with notice of possible impairment of title. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Enzolera, 164 Neb. 38, 81 N.W.2d 588 (1957).