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Is this theft by deception?

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STRONGMAN

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida.

I recently got 2 deep sea fishing rods and reels on ebay at a good price. I decided to resell them to make a bit of quick cash. A guy on a forum that I belong to wasn't really well off, so I decided to "consign" them to him and anything over $950, he could keep. I stupidly didn't get any written documentation since he had always been a standup guy to me. I saw that he posted up on the forum and craigslist, so I didn't think anything about it. After a couple days, he had gotten a few replies, but hadn't responded. I went to his work (a local tackle shop), and the owner said he had quit that morning, and had been evicted from his house. Long story short, he ended up having sold the equipment for $600 ($350 less than what I told him I wanted), and has not gotten back to me to pay me. His cell phone has been disconnected, and he is no longer logging on to the forum (he is currently in jail as of Sunday for possession of drugs). This all being said, do I have a legal right to press criminal charges against him, or is it still a civil matter. I spoke with the police and they said it was civil because he hadn't been given a "time frame" that he needed to pay me. I would think that it would be pretty obvious that he wasn't going to give me the money owed, since he sold it to a guy for so much less than what I said I wanted. Please, any advise on where to go from here would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
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quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida.

I recently got 2 deep sea fishing rods and reels on ebay at a good price. I decided to resell them to make a bit of quick cash. A guy on a forum that I belong to wasn't really well off, so I decided to "consign" them to him and anything over $950, he could keep. I stupidly didn't get any written documentation since he had always been a standup guy to me. I saw that he posted up on the forum and craigslist, so I didn't think anything about it. After a couple days, he had gotten a few replies, but hadn't responded. I went to his work (a local tackle shop), and the owner said he had quit that morning, and had been evicted from his house. Long story short, he ended up having sold the equipment for $600 ($350 less than what I told him I wanted), and has not gotten back to me to pay me. His cell phone has been disconnected, and he is no longer logging on to the forum (he is currently in jail as of Sunday for possession of drugs). This all being said, do I have a legal right to press criminal charges against him, or is it still a civil matter. I spoke with the police and they said it was civil because he hadn't been given a "time frame" that he needed to pay me. I would think that it would be pretty obvious that he wasn't going to give me the money owed, since he sold it to a guy for so much less than what I said I wanted. Please, any advise on where to go from here would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
No, what you describe is not theft by deception. Theft by deception is when a person purposely obtains the property of another through deceptive means (fraud, misrepresentation) with the intent to deprive the owner permanently of the possession, use or benefit of the property. It appears that what you have instead is a failure on the part of one party to an oral agreement to fulfill the terms of the oral agreement.

Your failure appears to be in not drafting a written agreement outlining the specific terms and conditions of the sale of the rods and reels and then having this agreement signed by the man to whom you gave the rods and reels. Although oral agreements can be enforceable in a court, the terms of an oral agreement are often remembered differently by the parties and are difficult to prove. In addition, and as the police officer noted, you apparently failed even in your oral agreement to have the terms include a time limit within which the man must turn over the money from the sale of the rods and reels.

It is possible for you to sue the man for the $600 he owes you from the sale of the rods and reels but your task could be difficult. One way it could be difficult is that you do not have a written contract to show to the court the terms under which the rods and reels were to be sold - or to show that there was any agreement made between you and the man to sell the fishing equipment at all. The man could potentially claim the fishing equipment was a gift from you to him. Another way it could be difficult is that the oral agreement did not include a time limit for paying, which means he has not necessarily violated any agreement by not paying you yet. Another way it could be difficult, if the man does not dispute there was an agreement made to sell the fishing rods and reels, is that you must prove that the minimum price for the sale was supposed to be $950, that the man actually sold the equipment for $600, and that the man was only to collect on amounts over $950. Perhaps the man will say he understood the agreement to be that YOU were to be paid only amounts over $950.

And finally, even if you are able to convince a court that an agreement existed whereby the man was to sell the fishing equipment and give you the proceeds from the sale up to $950 and that he therefore owes you the $600 he collected, the man has no job, he has been evicted from his house, he has had his phone disconnected, and he is currently in jail on possession charges. Collecting from this man any judgment that might be awarded you by the court will be difficult at best and impossible at worst.
 
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