What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona
A guy bought my girlfriend a cheap car to drive when her's got wrecked. Now that he knows she has a boyfriend and doesn't want to be with her, he is demanding repayment for the car. The car isn't worth nearly as much as he says he bought it for, which is $2000. There was no repayment contract, or even talk of repayment until after he got mad at her. The car is fully in my girlfriends name with no lean, so do we have to legally repay him for the car? Does he have a case to sue in small claims court like he says he will?
I think more needs to be known about your girlfriend's previous relationship with the "guy" who bought her the car before it can be said if there can be a successful legal action this guy can take to recover the car or the value of it.
There are several cases dating from long ago to the present, and state statutes, that show that "gifts" can be revocable if certain circumstances exist. What needs to be considered, among other factors, are the ages and mental capacities of the parties and whether the gift was conditional or acquired through fraud.
For state statutes, here is an example from California Civil Code Sections 1565-1590 (and I realize this is not from Arizona):
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=civ&group=01001-02000&file=1565-1590
For one older case (and again I realize this is not from Arizona, but the principles discussed have no state boundary), there is
Pavlicic v. Vogtsberger. Here is a link:
http://www.leagle.com/decision/1957892390Pa502_1833.xml/PAVLICIC v. VOGTSBERGER
Pavlicic v. Vogtsberger, 136 A.2d 127, 130 (Pa 1957): "A gift given by a man to a woman on condition that she embark on the sea of matrimony with him is no different from a gift based on the condition that the donee sail on any other sea. If, after receiving the provisional gift, the donee refuses to leave the harbor - if the anchor of contractual performance sticks in the sands of irresolution and procrastination - the gift must be restored to the donor."
More recent cases, and both less and more extreme cases, can be provided if anyone is interested, which they might not be because it seems unlikely that the former boyfriend will take the former girlfriend to court over a $2000 car.
But facts matter - including how litigious the guy is whose girlfriend drove off with another boyfriend in the car he purchased.
