Small Claims Court Summons

I'd suggest you contact the plaintiff directly as if you are interested in exploring a settlement, and ask what his complaints about the transaction are. Then contact an attorney friend with that info and find out if the buyer has any case.

 

Two years after the fact????? Seems to me the first thing to do is to find out if the law will even allow an action after that much time.

Is the guy a big time Hollywood producer whose employees all love him?

 

My office is in small claims court every week. In ca, in order to file they have to sign that they have asked for the money.

I’d talk to the broker first, something may be missing from the conversation.

You do not want a judgment recorded against you.

 

From what I’ve seen I’d say never NOT respond. I thought that small claims required in state or in locale actions. In any case, research the conditions for small claims in the jurisdiction filed and if the action doesn’t meet the conditions, respond in writing why it doesn’t apply.

No response often times results in default judgments against the non respondent.

SV


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Since the car is a 1987, I assume there have been several owners. The "as is" nature of the sale puts him in a certain losing position unless he can prove fraud, and he isn't even indicating what alleged fraud occurred.

This will be interesting, please keep us updated.

 

I doubt fraud and odometer tampering are subject to an “as is” agreement.

Perhaps there were problems with the odometer that existed before you purchased the car. Try dig up the original receipt with miles listed.

If you sold the car in another jurisdiction file for change of venue

 

Depending on the temperature of the water in your area, many small claims courts are extremely pro-consumer. The last thing you want to do is ignore this.

 

We have found also that most courts favor the party that filed the complaint.

We do allot of trial prep, with table of contents, summary, and all exhibits have page numbers on them.

Being prepared, documented, and non-emotional goes a long way towards wining your case.

Do your best to have your documentation match your testimony

 

The seller may be referring to a carfax report, as a wild guess. My testarossa has 14k miles. Carfax shows at one point it had 113k miles, etc. When you go for emmissions testing, they "assume" its 113k miles as its a 30 year old car. You don't find out until later. Good luck fixing it...

 

Are you in California? If someone is suing you they must list on the small court application what the suit is for. Usually with some detail.

First court date is usually just to set the next court date, for a trial if needed. The first court date nothing ever gets settled. You definitely need to go or send someone...

 

Not in our jurisdiction. One day court. Come prepared

 

I did three small claim case a few months ago. On the date of each, showed up, told the judge my story, the defendant say their **** and a half hour later it's done. The judge makes his decision within 30 days and mails a summary to both parties.

 

Never heard of that... Waiting 30 days...

 

The broker told you the plaintiff was not interested in settlement? I suggest you talk to the plaintiff directly.

 

A 10k risk is not worth asking people on f-chat for their non-legal opinions from different jurisdiction.

If you’re in my state (and best yet my county) I’d give you an opinion after looking at the pleadings.

 

Note that in California in small claims that you have to exchange any evidence you plan to submit before the trial.

Well documented is well handled... also don’t be surprised if he ends up not showing...

SV


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Is it also possible the market has softened since his purchase, another reason for buyer's remorse?

 

Any possible grounds for a countersuit, e.g. filing a frivolous lawsuit?

 

Surely any judge would have to query why it's taken the plaintiff over two years to become concerned about the cars mileage?

 

It almost sounds as if whoever ripped him off for the $23k worth of service is deflecting to you to justify the charges.

 

IIRC, small claims only allows damages up to $7500. Then they have to be actual damages and not projected.

I’m still betting he’ll bail...hoping the defendant wasn’t going to show...

SV


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One does not have took far to find people who have little technical knowledge and are predisposed to believing they're being "had". It's SOP for some people. Don't know if there'd be any way to use it as evidence, but I'd be tempted to try to find out how many times he's sued over car purchases in the past.

I'm still surprised that the statute of limitations has not been exceeded.

Don't know you, but seem like a straight shooter, so it's a bloody shame you're having to put up with this. Sadly, you can't expect a judge (especially a CA judge) to know boo about cars, so hopefully you can be prepared to clearly refute whatever claims may be made.

Best of luck. I hope justice prevails. Let us know what happens.