Do I have a case? Looking for some guidance.

[DefenseFirm83]

In California. I LIVE in Orange County.

My car was "accidently" reposessed by my bank (who is in Arizona). I'm already not sure how you "accidently" reposess someones car. When I got the car back all of my belongings were gone and my car doesn't work at all now. When they took the car it was working fine. The only thing I managed to get out of the car was my child's carseat. I called my bank and told them the situation and they forwarded me to the reposession company. That company would not work with me at all and is denying all liability and has now hung up on me several times trying to avoid the situation. Since then I have checked the Better Business Bureau and the reposession company is rated "F" for not responding to customer complaints. Now I am stuck with a car that does not work after the holiday's and I am not sure what to do. My car was not broken before and now it is. Soon I will be fired from my job if I do not do something about this and I do not have the money to get it fixed at this time. Should I be filing a small claims suit now? Who would I file it against? Also what type of case would this be? I would appreciate any imput!

Thank You.



- I had a late payment which I discussed with my bank and got resolved by paying two payments at the end of November. But it was taken care of with the bank. The bank actually called it a "accidental reposession" when I called and told them what happened and thats why I got the car back by the next day, except when I got it, it was not working.

 

[Antigone*]

Were you behind on your payments?

 

[dcatz]

You’re actually a little light on details for anyone to assess whether you have a claim at this point. A number of statutes, including Vehicle Code, Penal Code and Business & Professions Code (California Recovery Act – B & P sect. 7500 et seq.), could be relevant, as well as general negligence laws as they pertain to your bank.

You may need a mechanic’s inspection to confirm the “before” and “after” condition of your vehicle and the reason(s) for any difference. You should be able to prove the missing personal effects, which lawfully must be inventoried and secured by the licensee. You’d have to be more specific about the nature of the “accident” and, while you may or may not have claims against both the bank and the repossessor, you should know that, generally speaking, the Recovery Act indemnifies each for the wrongful acts of the other (so you may have two defendants).

Preliminary suggestions would be to forget about BBB (useless), get your car checked to identify the problem (even if you can’t afford to get it fixed), contact the Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (which does the licensing) and take a look at your rights under the Recovery Act by starting here:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=bpc&codebody=&hits=20

Even if there was a legitimate right to repossess, it must be done properly and lawfully in all respects.