$5,000 escalade down payment

Approx. 7 months ago, I leased a 2000 Escalade under my name only for my ex-boyfriend who was unable to get a car for himself because he has bad credit. He put a $5,000 down payment on the car, and was paying for the monthly payments. About 3 months ago, he lost his business, so he was unable to pay for the car on time. Now, the payments were running 2 months behind. I decided to take the Escalade and return it to the dealer as an early termination of the lease because I was afraid that my credit would get messed up because he was so behind. Now, he is taking me to small claims court for the $5,000. Do I owe him the $5,000? The car is under my name only.

Though it sounds like there is a lot more to this than we know.....

This one gets kind of 'hairy'....

1) Did you have any legal obligation to 'protect' the $5,000 down payment made by someone else?
Maybe. It depends entirely on how someone perceives this situation. The 'ex' can claim that he made the $5k down payment as a loan to you (since there is no other obligation by him). You can claim (as you do) that he was obligated verbally to make the payments and that you returned the car due to his failure to comply with the agreement.

2) Who would 'suffer' in the case of breach of the agreement??
According to your message, you were the only person under direct obligation on the lease. I say 'direct', since you might have been able to take legal action against him to recover your damages (payments made by you in his behalf).

My suggestion:
Get prepared to challenge his claim. Go to court and present your case. Hopefully you will be able to convince the court that your actions were SOLELY to protect your credit, that it was YOUR vehicle to do with as you pleased, that his down payment was NOT a loan and that you made EVERY effort for him to handle the problem and that you did not take this action to spite your 'ex' (this one might be harder to prove).