crispywafers
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland
After months of trying to obtain a motorcycle title from the man we purchased a bike from... we have decided to go to small claims...however we have no idea what we are suing for here exactly (contract? replevin?...).
Any advice or help on how we should handle this in court would be appreciated.
A copy of the certified letter I sent to him is below explaining the whole story:
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Dear Mr. Joe Smith,
On May 24, 2006, you responded to my want ad on Craig’s list for a 2003 Suzuki SV650s. You stated you had purchased the bike the prior week from another seller; it had a clean title, was in good condition, and despite your fondness of the bike had decided you wanted a cruiser style bike instead. My husband and I visited your home that week to inspect the bike and we agreed on a purchase price of $3500 cash.
On May 27, 2006 we met at Chevy Chase Bank in Silver Spring, MD and notarized a bill of sale for the bike. We paid you $3500 dollars in cash and you turned over the keys and title. Upon us noticing the title was not in your name but in the original owner’s name, but signed over to you, you explained that you had not registered the bike in your name because you had only owned the bike a week and did not want to pay taxes on a bike you were simply reselling a week later.
Understanding your reasoning, we attempted to register the bike at the Maryland DMV, end of May, with the reassigned title but were informed by the DMV that you could not reassign a title twice and you, Mr. Smith, would not be able to sign the title over to us until it was titled officially in your name. We proceeded to immediately contact and mail the title back to you so you could take the title to the DMV to have it registered in your name, and then sign the new title over to us.
On June 1, 2006, per a discussion with a titling agent, you informed us that if you obtained a bill of sale with the previous owner’s signature and our signature, and you wrote a statement of no interest in the bike, we could have the title reassigned in our name without you having to register the bike. After receiving the new bill of sale between us and the original owner, and your statement of no-interest, mid June 2006, we again attempted to register the bike at the DMV with the title. Again we were told that we could not register the bike with a title that was reassigned from the original owner to you, despite a statement from you of no-interest in the bike and a bill of sale between us and the original owner.
We contacted you immediately following the DMV visit to inform you the DMV would not accept a title not officially titled in your name despite a notarized bill of sale between us and the original owner, and your statement of no-interest. Per our discussion that day you agreed to pay the taxes on the bike to have the bike titled in your name so you would be able to reassign the title to us properly. We then proceeded to mail the title back to you again so you could take the title to the DMV to have the title officially registered in your name.
On June 26, 2006 you stated via email you would be taking the title to the DMV to be registered in your name that Friday (June 30, 2006). We have contacted you approximately every two weeks since June 30, 2006 to obtain an update on the status of the title.
As of July 27, 2006 we have still not received a title from you. It has been approximately two months since we signed a notarized bill of sale, paid in full the agreed upon price of $3500 in cash for the bike, and picked up the bike from your home.
Please send us the title registered in your name and reassigned to me on or before August 4, 2006. If I do not receive the title by August 4, 2006, I'll promptly file this case in small claims court. However, I hope this issue can be resolved before that time.
You may reach me during the day at 301-000-0000 or my husband, Mr. Jones at 301-000-0000
Sincerely,
Our Address:
.....
After months of trying to obtain a motorcycle title from the man we purchased a bike from... we have decided to go to small claims...however we have no idea what we are suing for here exactly (contract? replevin?...).
Any advice or help on how we should handle this in court would be appreciated.
A copy of the certified letter I sent to him is below explaining the whole story:
----------
Dear Mr. Joe Smith,
On May 24, 2006, you responded to my want ad on Craig’s list for a 2003 Suzuki SV650s. You stated you had purchased the bike the prior week from another seller; it had a clean title, was in good condition, and despite your fondness of the bike had decided you wanted a cruiser style bike instead. My husband and I visited your home that week to inspect the bike and we agreed on a purchase price of $3500 cash.
On May 27, 2006 we met at Chevy Chase Bank in Silver Spring, MD and notarized a bill of sale for the bike. We paid you $3500 dollars in cash and you turned over the keys and title. Upon us noticing the title was not in your name but in the original owner’s name, but signed over to you, you explained that you had not registered the bike in your name because you had only owned the bike a week and did not want to pay taxes on a bike you were simply reselling a week later.
Understanding your reasoning, we attempted to register the bike at the Maryland DMV, end of May, with the reassigned title but were informed by the DMV that you could not reassign a title twice and you, Mr. Smith, would not be able to sign the title over to us until it was titled officially in your name. We proceeded to immediately contact and mail the title back to you so you could take the title to the DMV to have it registered in your name, and then sign the new title over to us.
On June 1, 2006, per a discussion with a titling agent, you informed us that if you obtained a bill of sale with the previous owner’s signature and our signature, and you wrote a statement of no interest in the bike, we could have the title reassigned in our name without you having to register the bike. After receiving the new bill of sale between us and the original owner, and your statement of no-interest, mid June 2006, we again attempted to register the bike at the DMV with the title. Again we were told that we could not register the bike with a title that was reassigned from the original owner to you, despite a statement from you of no-interest in the bike and a bill of sale between us and the original owner.
We contacted you immediately following the DMV visit to inform you the DMV would not accept a title not officially titled in your name despite a notarized bill of sale between us and the original owner, and your statement of no-interest. Per our discussion that day you agreed to pay the taxes on the bike to have the bike titled in your name so you would be able to reassign the title to us properly. We then proceeded to mail the title back to you again so you could take the title to the DMV to have the title officially registered in your name.
On June 26, 2006 you stated via email you would be taking the title to the DMV to be registered in your name that Friday (June 30, 2006). We have contacted you approximately every two weeks since June 30, 2006 to obtain an update on the status of the title.
As of July 27, 2006 we have still not received a title from you. It has been approximately two months since we signed a notarized bill of sale, paid in full the agreed upon price of $3500 in cash for the bike, and picked up the bike from your home.
Please send us the title registered in your name and reassigned to me on or before August 4, 2006. If I do not receive the title by August 4, 2006, I'll promptly file this case in small claims court. However, I hope this issue can be resolved before that time.
You may reach me during the day at 301-000-0000 or my husband, Mr. Jones at 301-000-0000
Sincerely,
Our Address:
.....