canceled check pa/oh

[cshaw07]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? OHIO
I bought a used xbox 360 off of a good friend (known him 10+ years) for $210, it came with two controllers and 8 games. He dropped it off to me in PA then I drove to my house in OH (an hour drive). When i got home it sat for 3 hours before i plugged it in. It came on and the controllers didn't work. I thought they would just need batteries so i put a game in so it could load and was going to go get new batteries. It wasn't 5 seconds after i put the game in that the screen on the tv went black, the xbox had 3 blinking red lights for about 5 more seconds then it shut off. Hasn't turned on since. This was on Saturday Feb 25.

When I bought it (Feb 25) i told him i was going to write him a check dated for the following Monday (Feb 27). He said that was fine. When I found out it was broken, i polity asked him to refund my money. There was no bill of sale and a warranty wasn't discussed. The night of Feb 25 he told me he would see what he could do and that he would talk to me tomorrow. The next day came around and he said he could have his fried try to fix it or that i could send it to Microsoft for $140 and have it fixed. He refused to refund the money and accused me of breaking it. I cancelled the check late in the day on Feb 26, then I told him the morning of Feb 27 that i cancelled it and that if he would cash it they would charge him a fee. He said "ill just cash it and then delete my bank account" and he went ahead and cashed it anyway.

Fast forward to today (March 9) and i get a text from him saying that he is taking me to small claims court.

Questions:
1. Did i legally do anything wrong by cancelling the check before it was even dated to be cashed?
2. Since he lives in PA and i live in OH what court house would we go to.
3. Am I the only one who thinks that $210 is NOT worth the time to go to court?
4. I am not even sure what to expect out of this. I feel i didn't do anything wrong at all, I was honest, and that i am getting ripped off.

Also, I have tried many times to return the xbox to him. He refuses to take it back.

 

[sandyclaus]

You gave him a check in consideration for the purchase. You got what was paid for, yet put a stop payment on the check. Bad move on your part.

They can absolutely sue you for the amount of the check.

Since the transaction took place in PA, I believe that would be the venue where your friend would need to file suit.

The civil penalty for writing a bad check in PA is as follows:

Upon written demand from payee following conviction for passing a bad check and failure to make restitution, the payee upon obtaining civil judgment is entitled to an amount equal to $100 or treble the amount for which the check is drawn, whichever is greater, not to exceed by more than $500 the value of the check.

As for how you SHOULD have handled the situation? The sale was very likely "AS IS", as all used items would be considered unless the seller offers you a WRITTEN guarantee or warranty of fitness. It would have been on you to check out the item BEFORE you bought it to make sure it worked. If you had, you wouldn't have even written the check.

If he sues, you are kind of screwed. Next time, check out the stuff to make sure it works first.