petersam909
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri
Hi all
. I posted yesterday about our situation on a different board but now that we've decided a course of action I'd like some thoughts on small claims court. Basically we agreed to purchase a car from our friend and we have a signed contract laying out our terms. This deal was initiated almost 2 months ago and for the past three weeks we've been working out at a local shop putting an engine (and all other respective parts) back into the car. You can check my previous posts if you're interested in the whole story...
We are now planning on taking our former friend to small claims. To fight him to get him to honor our contract (which we've already made payments on) we'd have to hire a lawyer so we've decided just to ignore our contract and ask for the cost of our labor putting the engine into this car. We've done about 3 weeks of work on the car with over 30 hours of time. The engine isn't completely in the vehicle (just a few minor things left to do) and it was supposed to be done last Saturday but that was the day that our friend backed out of our deal. We've spoke with the BMW mechanics in our area and we were quoted $1400 to fully install a new engine (we already had the engine) but since it's not done we're only asking for $700 in labor and our original $100 payment back.
When we go to small claims should we bring up the original contract? Our friend did not ask us to do this work per say but he knew we were doing it and knew the car would be road ready the day he backed out. And obviously, if we're buying a car we want a motor in it. Also, the BMW shop where we've been working on the car with their assistance (they were nice enough to work for free) has given us a write up of expenses for our work in the car -- will this be sufficient to convince a judge that the $700 is a fair value for our work? Also, our friend has stated that he's taking the car (we've spoken to the police and they assured us if he takes the vehicle he'll be breaking a number of laws) and that he will not pay any labor, so how do we go about actually collecting our judgement, should one be granted? Can we put a lien on the car if he doesn't pay the $700 in labor and $100 original payment?
Any help would be great and if you have questions about the situation please don't hesitate to ask. This is all new territory for us and we'd like to know where we stand before walking into court...
Hi all
. I posted yesterday about our situation on a different board but now that we've decided a course of action I'd like some thoughts on small claims court. Basically we agreed to purchase a car from our friend and we have a signed contract laying out our terms. This deal was initiated almost 2 months ago and for the past three weeks we've been working out at a local shop putting an engine (and all other respective parts) back into the car. You can check my previous posts if you're interested in the whole story...We are now planning on taking our former friend to small claims. To fight him to get him to honor our contract (which we've already made payments on) we'd have to hire a lawyer so we've decided just to ignore our contract and ask for the cost of our labor putting the engine into this car. We've done about 3 weeks of work on the car with over 30 hours of time. The engine isn't completely in the vehicle (just a few minor things left to do) and it was supposed to be done last Saturday but that was the day that our friend backed out of our deal. We've spoke with the BMW mechanics in our area and we were quoted $1400 to fully install a new engine (we already had the engine) but since it's not done we're only asking for $700 in labor and our original $100 payment back.
When we go to small claims should we bring up the original contract? Our friend did not ask us to do this work per say but he knew we were doing it and knew the car would be road ready the day he backed out. And obviously, if we're buying a car we want a motor in it. Also, the BMW shop where we've been working on the car with their assistance (they were nice enough to work for free) has given us a write up of expenses for our work in the car -- will this be sufficient to convince a judge that the $700 is a fair value for our work? Also, our friend has stated that he's taking the car (we've spoken to the police and they assured us if he takes the vehicle he'll be breaking a number of laws) and that he will not pay any labor, so how do we go about actually collecting our judgement, should one be granted? Can we put a lien on the car if he doesn't pay the $700 in labor and $100 original payment?
Any help would be great and if you have questions about the situation please don't hesitate to ask. This is all new territory for us and we'd like to know where we stand before walking into court...