Got Scammed $450!!!!

[Atari]

What is the name of your state? CA

Allright this is what happend. I payed this guy $450 dollars for an illegal smog. The guy said it would be ready in a week. Then it became 2 weeks. then a month. Now it has been 6 months since ive been trying to get my money back. My question is can i sue him? 50 dollars of that money was my friends who was there with me. and my cousin was also there to witness me giving him the money. I havent done anything illegal because i havent recieved any kind of services right? What is the best corse of action??

 

[JETX]

My question is can sue him? 50 dollars of that money was my friends who was there with me. and my cousin was also there to witness me giving him the money. I havent done anything illegal because i havent recieved any kind of services right?"
*** Of course you can sue him. But you won't win. The problem is... the court will not help you when the actions you were trying to take were (or would be) illegal. Simply, you must have 'clean hands'..... and you don't.

"What is the best corse of action??"
*** Learn next time to not spend your money on trying to purchase illegal services or products.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? CA

Allright this is what happend. I payed this guy $450 dollars for an illegal smog. The guy said it would be ready in a week. Then it became 2 weeks. then a month. Now it has been 6 months since ive been trying to get my money back. My question is can sue him? 50 dollars of that money was my friends who was there with me. and my cousin was also there to witness me giving him the money. I havent done anything illegal because i havent recieved any kind of services right? What is the best corse of action??

My response:

No you can't sue him, and you have no "course of action" either.

What are you going to say in court?

"Your honor, although I stand before you with "unclean hands" because I entered into an illegal contract, the defendant kept my money and I want you to come to my rescue."

Baloney. You've got nothing except for a $450.00 hole in your pocket. And, the best part of all this? The guy knows you can't sue him!

IAAL

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Ooops. We must have been posting at the same time.

Jinx!

IAAL

 

[JETX]

Padlock, double padlock!!

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Further Education

My further response:

The "unclean hands" doctrine closes the courthouse door to one "tainted with inequitableness or bad faith relative to the matter in which he seeks relief, however improper may have been the behavior of the defendant." [Camp v. Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro (1995) 35 Cal.App.4th 620, 638, 41 Cal.Rptr.2d 329, 346 (emphasis added; internal quotes omitted)] "Unclean hands" originally was a defense only to suits in equity. But in California, the doctrine of unclean hands is not limited to equitable relief. It may also apply to legal claims and to both tort and contract remedies. [Camp v. Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, supra, 35 Cal.App.4th at 638, 41 Cal.Rptr.2d at 346]

Unclean hands requires inequitable conduct by plaintiff in connection with the matter in controversy and provides a complete defense to plaintiff's action. [Dickson, Carlson & Campillo v. Pole (2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 436, 446, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 678, 686]

IAAL

 

[Atari]

so can i or cant i sue him? if i can at least i might be able to scare him into giving my money back before the court date. What sould i do guys

 

[drago]

No, you can't sue.

You just got two accurate and (may I say) eloquent responses
from two very intelligent posters, reread them.

In more simple language, no, you have been ripped off and have
no legal rights because you were conspiring to do an illicit act.

 

[JETX]

You were apparently confused by my attempt at 'sarcasm'. Yes you can sue him.... (after all, anyone can file a lawsuit against someone else over virtually anything at all), but you have ZERO chance of winning. As soon as the court hears that you have 'dirty hands' (in other words, your 'damages' arose in your attempting an illegal act), your case is gone. And the filing fees, court costs, etc. are gone with it.
So, save your money. Learn that you cannot ask the LAW (court) to help you recover from an illegal act.

 

[hexeliebe]

Learn that you cannot ask the LAW (court) to help you recover from an illegal act.

Are they ever going to learn? I would love to go back over the last year's post and add how many times this forum has been asked how to get away with a crime....

So far, since I've been here, the count is 4 and rising

 

[gen13gen]

your mistake was trying to do it illegally, but sh*t happens...you really cant sue because you were literally trying to break the law. you can probably just turn him in for fraud to the state that you are living in and have his license revolked or so forth. lawsuits aint gonna scare him. *though my bf is a smog tech and i love to breathe in clean air* scam artists like those people should own no business!

 

[gen13gen]

your mistake was trying to do it illegally, but sh*t happens...you really cant sue because you were literally trying to break the law. you can probably just turn him in for fraud to the state that you are living in and have his license revolked or so forth. lawsuits aint gonna scare him. *though my bf is a smog tech and i love to breathe in clean air* scam artists like those people should own no business!

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

gen13gen - -

We saw it the first time.

IAAL

 

[JETX]

I guess she thought it was so important that it bears repeating.
However, she was wrong.

 

[hexeliebe]

And wrong the second time around