friend that didn't stick to verbal contract

Hello. I'm from the great state of West Va. And here is my situation. I have a friend who lives in Va (20 miles away) whom had just moved into a new house. He needed a kitchen table and I happened to have 2. I offered to sell him the extra one for 200.00 which he agreed to and I on good faith let him take the table w/ out so much as a down payment.
A few months went by and i hadn't heard from him as to when he would make payment. Finally i had to surprise him at his house. He reluctantly gave me 40 dollars and told me he would get the rest to me soon. Well 2 more months have gone by, and STILL NOTHING i went to his house where I knew he was home, he played not at home but we could see him through the window. We finally got through to him on the phone and told him we wanted the table back if he wasn't going to pay for it... Can we take him to small claims court to get the table back? or are we stuck w/ the 40 dollars he gave and No table?
thanks,
Kimmie

My response:

Well, I'm your "friend" in Virginia. I've got the table, and I'm keeping it ! That's because our agreement was for $40.00, and not one penny more. That's what we agreed to, and that's that. If you want to sue me, go right ahead.

Just remember, you've got to meet your burden of proof. If you can't, you lose.

IAAL

re: my friend in VA

I dont believe that you got the right idea on what i was saying. He only paid me 40 dollars towards the 200.00 he owed for the table. I guess you could say i was financing it for him... We didnt agree to 40.00 as you can see in my previous post he said he would get the rest to me asap, so he was still adhering to the original 200.00 agreement.

Re: re: my friend in VA

kimmie1988 said:

I dont believe that you got the right idea on what i was saying. He only paid me 40 dollars towards the 200.00 he owed for the table. I guess you could say i was financing it for him... We didnt agree to 40.00 as you can see in my previous post he said he would get the rest to me asap, so he was still adhering to the original 200.00 agreement.

Click to expand...

My response:

Yes, I got the "right idea." After 21 years in the practice of law, I think I know how to spot the problems and the issues.

When you get into court (if it should even get that far), he'll claim, and his defense will be, that the "oral agreement" was for $40.00; that he's paid you in full, and you'll have no "proof" that the agreement was for anything more than $40.00.

The burden of proof then shifts back to you. Because he'll admit that there was an oral agreement, he'll look "honest" to the judge. But, he'll also say that you brought the lawsuit out of "revenge" because of some other problem between you and him, and that's why you want more money.

Or, if he's even smarter, he could deny the existence of any contract at all; that you gave him the table for free because you and he were such good friends. But, you are bringing the lawsuit out of revenge because he spurned your "attention" - - or some other story.

You see, these are only two possible scenarios for his defense, and you would have a difficult, if not impossible, time trying to prove otherwise.

The moral of this story is "always get your contracts in writing and signed".

Good luck to you.

IAAL