who do i sue

[tnjed]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tenn

I bought a used car from an individual, it was a salvage certificate rather than a regular title. The guy said we could run the sale through a buddy who owns a car lot and it would push paperwork through faster and easier. After a month with no title I asked for refund which he did not want to give and he asked for more time and offered a loaner car. I said I would agree to 60 days if he would sign a paper explaining the situation and agreed to refund if no title produced in 60 days. Time is up, still no refund. Do I just sue the individual or should I name car lot owner too and let the judge sort it?

Also, I have done work on the vehicle, I have receipts for all. The agreement we signed "with a signing witness - the car lot owner" stated he would refund 1900 the purchase price of the car, I have 300-400 in receipts for the work. Should I sue for everything or just the 1900?

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tenn

I bought a used car from an individual, it was a salvage certificate rather than a regular title. The guy said we could run the sale through a buddy who owns a car lot and it would push paperwork through faster and easier. After a month with no title I asked for refund which he did not want to give and he asked for more time and offered a loaner car. I said I would agree to 60 days if he would sign a paper explaining the situation and agreed to refund if no title produced in 60 days. Time is up, still no refund. Do I just sue the individual or should I name car lot owner too and let the judge sort it?

Also, I have done work on the vehicle, I have receipts for all. The agreement we signed "with a signing witness - the car lot owner" stated he would refund 1900 the purchase price of the car, I have 300-400 in receipts for the work. Should I sue for everything or just the 1900?

Who should you sue?

Rather difficult to say inasmuch as you've tossed the pronoun "he" about like New Year's Eve confetti.

Hence it is impossible to know which "he" claimed ownership of the vehicle and agreed to sell it Or which "he" received the $1900; which "we(s)" signed what; which asked for more time; which offered a loaner and which refused to make refund.

Two things are certain, however.

(1) You can't sue to recover the $1900 for breach of any botched agreement and/or rescission of contract, plus add in the repair costs.

(2) The judge ain't going to "sort out" your lawsuit. Either you do or you lose.

My suggestions is that you start sorting out the mess via Tennessee's DMV and the Consumer Affairs Division of the state's Department of Commerce.

 

[Zigner]

I disagree that the situation is confusing. The OP wants to sue the person who sold him the car but could not produce the title. The other party involved (the car dealer) was merely going to facilitate the transfer of title (ie: do the "paperwork.") In this case, the OP would be suing the guy he bought the car from.

I do agree that he (the OP) is not entitled to recover the money he spent on fixing the car when he knew full well that he may not be keeping it.

 

[single317dad]

Here are a few links that, while unrelated to any potential lawsuit, may be helpful:

http://www.tn.gov/revenue/vehicle/generalinfo/salvage.shtml

http://www.tn.gov/revenue/vehicle/generalinfo/salvage.shtml

http://www.tn.gov/revenue/vehicle/generalinfo/rebuiltveh.shtml

http://www.tn.gov/revenue/vehicle/generalinfo/rebuiltveh.shtml

http://www.tn.gov/revenue/forms/titlereg/f1315401Fill-in.pdf

http://www.tn.gov/revenue/forms/titlereg/f1315401Fill-in.pdf

 

[tnjed]

Sorry to be confusing with the "he" use. But yes I want to sue the individual who sold me the car and accepted he money. The car lot guy was just doing paperwork.

Also, the extra money on top of the 1900 was put into the car before any title issues came up and at the time of the work I fully expected to obtain the title and keep the car. Once the issue came up the car was parked and not been used since.

The reason I ask if the car lot guy may be the one is that , the paperwork used for a temp tag and such is all the car lot, the individual is not listed at all. The paperwork "agreement" I typed up referred to me as buyer and the individual as the seller but doesn't mention the car lot.

By "the judge sorting it" I meant, if I mention both in the suit and drag them into court together will the judge decide who is to blame and issue a judgement against that party?

I don't want to sue the wrong guy and have the judge side with the defendant and say I should have went after the other guy.

I am disabeled and have very limited resources. I bought this car on behalf of my son with money I cosigned on a loan for him, he has made 3 payments on a car he can't drive so I want to do this right.

Then will come the thread on how to collect on a judgement someone won't pay lol

The kicker to this is when you Google this guy there are pics of the individual with several presidents including Obama and even one with the pope. He used to be a somebody, can't believe I got trouble with him over 1900 bux

 

[latigo]

Of course the individual that received the $1900 is the person responsible to produce proof of ownership and the right to transfer it over. If not, (and it doesn't appear likely that he will or can) you have a cause of action (legal claim) for restitution of the money. And I am aware that it is not always easy to convey one's thoughts in writing. (I've got relatives that could barely tell you the time of day if that had to write it down.)

However, it seemed odd to me that this same individual that took your money would be offering you a loaner. Few such people have extra vehicles sitting around for that purpose. Plus without proper insurance coverage such a lender would have is vicarious neck stuck out a mile.

And if the loaner was to be furnished by "he", meaning the buddy dealer guy, that plus the stalling might indicate that the buddy was getting a piece of the $1900 and/or that no one is in position to deliver good title.

The trouble with suing both is that you could get stuck for the buddy's court costs and more.

Before you take the matter up with the court system, I still urge you to involve DMV and Consumer Affairs.

Another thought is that you just might have a claim for the cost of repairs in addition to restitution of the $1900. Because this whole saga smells of fraud. On the part of whom, who knows? It might be a stretch, but I would look into how this deal developed and the agencies mentioned might provide some answers. Because if you relied on the representations of the seller that he could produce good title, and he is unable to do so and you can show that the representations were false, those repairs costs would be (IMO) a proper element of your damages.

 

[tnjed]

Guess I should have started this way...

Person 1 - myself
Person 2 - individual who sold car, took money, promised a title could be obtained, and provide loaner car who also buys-sells cars on the side but not a licences dealer or a company or llc, just a guy who buys cars and fixes to resell
Person 3 - guy who owns car lot.

My son needed a car, he is young so I looked for him, found this one along with 3-4 other cars on the side of the road, all owned by person 2.
I called,meet person 2 at the car, test drove and started talking price. Myself and person 2 agreed on a price but when asked to see the title, person 2 only had a salvage certificate. I've never seen one so called the county clerk, provided cert number which checked out as a good salvage cert, the county clerk said it was a valid cert but that was all the info they could provide.

Person 2 assured it was as simple as taking cert to courthouse to register and obtain a new title. I was still a little unsure about what exactly a salvage cert was and person 2 had the idea to run the paperwork through the car lot if I was uneasy, to make things go faster, easier and provide piece of mind it would work out.

Turns out there is a step to take through the DMV turning the salvage cert into a salvage title, this final step was never completed so a title can not be issued. It took about a month to find this out. A title can be obtained if the final step is done and approved by the DMV.

At this point I just asked for my money back. Person 2 didn't want to provide a refund and said he was sure given time would be able to get a title. At this point I agreed to give person 2, 60 days providing he signed a document stating the issue and agreeing to provide a temp loaner car and refund money when the 60 days were up if no title produced.

In order for loaner car to be legal, it too was written up through the car lot "person - 3" so I could insure the loaner car and have a temp tag.

Now the 60 days is up, I have posession of both cars and person 2 doesn't want to refund money.

I know its a mess and hindsight and have learned several lessons I will NEVER make mistakes over again but m just over a barrel and need to do all I can to make sure my son don't have to eat 2500 bux

 

[tnjed]

Spoke with ADA today, it is a criminal offense to not provide a valid title, a misdemeanor but a crime.
If I get the DA to go after him am I more likely to get paid if the judge orders restitution vs just having a judgement from a civil suit?

 

[tnjed]

I was wrong, he got arrested
It was an in and out deal and was allowed to sign a OR bond but his wife contacted me and said he will meet up with me tomorrow for my refund.

I'm thinking they want me to drop charges or whatever but once the cops/state steps in it doesn't matter what I want correct?

I don't really care either way but it would even the karma scales if he had a bit of hassle out of this seeing as how its been a 2 month nightmare for me and all he had to do from the beginning is "do the right thing"