About filing a small claim in court....?

Question

I am sueing for a car i bought from a man, who sold me a lemon. It had a cracked manifold , radiator problems etc. Basically 4k worth of work, when i only paid 1500 for the car (92 VW Cabrio Convertible) He sold me the car saying it was a great reliable car etc. I am taking him to small claims, to get my money back and return the car to him, since he wont refund my money person to person. I drove the car 2 blocks to inspection station and it broke down like a block from my house. Apparently he put stop leak in it to hold it over while i test drove it the day i bought it. Anyhow....what do i file my case under.....CONTRACT, TORT, REPLEVIN OR DETINUE ???? Thanks!

Answer 1

Basically file a fraud case. its small claims, so, just have a mechanic submit a bill for repair (get two estimates) to show the judge that the car had these "problems" . also, if the mechanic noticed teh "stop leak" he can give testimony on why someone would use that for the manifold.


however, it'll boil down to "he said she said". He could turn around and said "Well Judge, I told her/him that it had all these problems, but she/he still bought the damn thing".

But since its small potatoes, in refund, the judge, might just rule in your favor.

How did you find the car? Was there an ad? Did the ad state the condition of the car? You can use that as proof if it did.

Answer 2

Go to your local court house and tell them you want to file a small claims. They will give you the paperwork to fill out and then you have to wait until the court serves him with the papers too.. then you will get a court date. Make sure you have all your repair bills with you including the amount you bought the car for... each state has a limits on amounts most are around 5000. There will be a filing fee but it's nominal.
Don't return the car to him keep everything until the judge tells you what to do..the settlement if in your favor will take up to 90 days to conclude(in otherwords he has 90 days to pay you if he does not he is in contempt of court and THEY go after him).