Fraudulent receipt in private car sale

[Beaulawcious]

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

My 2 main questions,
1)Does Patrick have a strong case to sue me for fraudulent receipts in this private as-is truck sale?
2) If I win, can I make Patrick pay my $1000's in attorney fees from court since he dragged me to court? It doesn't seem fair that I'd be stuck with a several thousand dollar attorney bill just because someone wanted to sue me, and i had to spend that to prove my innocence.

Here is the basic scenario of whats going on:
I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

I purchased a used truck from a private owner, Andrew. Andrew gave me a receipt for $5,500 worth of motor work/preventative maintenance (new injectors, new ARP head studs, oil cooler, etc This is not required work, but rather upgraded aftermarket work just to make truck less likely to break down in future, but not required). And I signed a bill of sale with Andrew stating truck is sold as is.
I had truck for a month, decided not to keep it, and sold the truck to Patrick. I passed along the receipt to Patrick. The title is still in Andrews name to this day as well as the receipt. I signed a bill of sale with Patrick too.

Patrick has the truck in a shop in Flagstaff, where Patrick lives. Truck runs perfect, with no issues, but is just having a "look over" and according to Patrick, the mechanics say the work on the receipts have not been performed. The date on receipt is Sept 2012, from a diesel shop in Oregon. According to Patrick, he called The Chamber of Commerce in Oregon and they say there is no record for this mechanic shop in 2012. Therefore possibly a fraudulent receipt. Patrick wants to be reimbursed $5500 for the receipt, or have me buy the truck back for $10,000. If not then Patrick will file a complaint against me.

I spoke with the assistant to Arizona Attorney General and she said Patrick can file a complaint directly against Andrew himself. I relayed that info to Patrick. Patrick in return says he spoke with the assistant to the Arizona Attorney General as well, and he was told that he has to file a complaint directly against me, as he got the truck from me. Even though Andrews name is on the receipt, there is no "proof" that Andrew made the receipt. Patrick got the receipt from me, and therefore I could have made the fake receipt and put Andrews name on it.

Do I have anything to worry about? What could happen? Truck was sold "as is" but I included receipts of motor work that are fake, obviously I was unaware of fake receipts.

Isn't there a law about buyer's due diligence to ensure themselves that the truck is in "said condition"? and to verify all documents/receipts are legitimate? and if the buyer fails to do so, (and a receipt comes up fraudulent) then oh well thats buyers fault for not verifying, because private party trucks are sold as is?

I imagine Patrick can attempt to sue me for anything really, but may or may not win. One of my other concerns, is even if Patrick does not have a good case, he can still attempt to sue me, causing me to spend thousands in attorney fees, just to prove my innocence. If i win, can I make Patrick pay my attorney fees since he made me go to court when I was innocent?

***I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but the Bill of sale between Patrick and I says nothing at all about truck being sold as is and says nothing about receipts being included. Its just a simple Bill of sale format I printed off the ADOT website stating "I sell Patrick my truck on this day for this amount, and transfer ownership to buyer" with both our signatures and information. nothing else. But I believe a Bill of sale automatically implies truck is sold as is, even if its not written in bill of sale since it was between two private parties.

Thank you for all your time and advice
Beau

 

[Indiana Filer]

I think you're going to have a problem since you never transferred the title to your name before selling it, unless you are a licensed dealer.

 

[latigo]

If you don't want him to get away with it - and you surely shouldn't - arrange a sit down with you, mom and your lawyer.

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

My 2 main questions,
1)Does Patrick have a strong case to sue me for fraudulent receipts in this private as-is truck sale?
2) If I win, can I make Patrick pay my $1000's in attorney fees from court since he dragged me to court? It doesn't seem fair that I'd be stuck with a several thousand dollar attorney bill just because someone wanted to sue me, and i had to spend that to prove my innocence.

Here is the basic scenario of whats going on:
I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

I purchased a used truck from a private owner, Andrew. Andrew gave me a receipt for $5,500 worth of motor work/preventative maintenance (new injectors, new ARP head studs, oil cooler, etc This is not required work, but rather upgraded aftermarket work just to make truck less likely to break down in future, but not required). And I signed a bill of sale with Andrew stating truck is sold as is.
I had truck for a month, decided not to keep it, and sold the truck to Patrick. I passed along the receipt to Patrick. The title is still in Andrews name to this day as well as the receipt. I signed a bill of sale with Patrick too.

Patrick has the truck in a shop in Flagstaff, where Patrick lives. Truck runs perfect, with no issues, but is just having a "look over" and according to Patrick, the mechanics say the work on the receipts have not been performed. The date on receipt is Sept 2012, from a diesel shop in Oregon. According to Patrick, he called The Chamber of Commerce in Oregon and they say there is no record for this mechanic shop in 2012. Therefore possibly a fraudulent receipt. Patrick wants to be reimbursed $5500 for the receipt, or have me buy the truck back for $10,000. If not then Patrick will file a complaint against me.

I spoke with the assistant to Arizona Attorney General and she said Patrick can file a complaint directly against Andrew himself. I relayed that info to Patrick. Patrick in return says he spoke with the assistant to the Arizona Attorney General as well, and he was told that he has to file a complaint directly against me, as he got the truck from me. Even though Andrews name is on the receipt, there is no "proof" that Andrew made the receipt. Patrick got the receipt from me, and therefore I could have made the fake receipt and put Andrews name on it.

Do I have anything to worry about? What could happen? Truck was sold "as is" but I included receipts of motor work that are fake, obviously I was unaware of fake receipts.

Isn't there a law about buyer's due diligence to ensure themselves that the truck is in "said condition"? and to verify all documents/receipts are legitimate? and if the buyer fails to do so, (and a receipt comes up fraudulent) then oh well thats buyers fault for not verifying, because private party trucks are sold as is?

I imagine Patrick can attempt to sue me for anything really, but may or may not win. One of my other concerns, is even if Patrick does not have a good case, he can still attempt to sue me, causing me to spend thousands in attorney fees, just to prove my innocence. If i win, can I make Patrick pay my attorney fees since he made me go to court when I was innocent?

***I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but the Bill of sale between Patrick and I says nothing at all about truck being sold as is and says nothing about receipts being included. Its just a simple Bill of sale format I printed off the ADOT website stating "I sell Patrick my truck on this day for this amount, and transfer ownership to buyer" with both our signatures and information. nothing else. But I believe a Bill of sale automatically implies truck is sold as is, even if its not written in bill of sale since it was between two private parties.

Thank you for all your time and advice
Beau

First, the issue is not whether or not the bill of sale "implies that the truck is sold as is". The legal issue is that there are no implied warranties of fitness in the sale of used goods.

In other words, when no warranties of fitness are expressed/stated by the seller of used goods, the goods are in fact sold as is. That is in their present condition.

The question that emerges in this transaction is whether or not you expressly warranted the condition of the truck by delivering your buyer a copy of the receipt for the alleged mechanical work. In other words, you were making the same representations to your buyer as were made to you.

If you had not done so, the buyer would have no grounds for rescission of the sale. Having done so I think your defense would fail in court.

However, your buyer's remedy is not that you repurchase the truck for the ridiculous sum of $10K. His damages are limited to the return of the price he paid.

And if you are sued by your buyer, you should interplead your seller who did in fact expressly warrant the condition of the truck by misrepresenting its mechanical condition.

Meaning, that you would bring your seller into the lawsuit asking the court to give you a judgment over against him for what ever your buyer receives against you.

There is some advantages in doing so. Because the burden would initially fall on you buyer to prove that the receipt for the mechanical work was bogus.

However, don't expect the court to be awarding you your attorney fees. Because the optimum result for you would be to lose one and win the other.