Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: rights of buyer and seller on a bill of sale

First, your question is in the wrong category. You will get more answers if you re-ask it as a business law or contract law question. The intellectual property category covers things such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Anyway, here's an attempt at an answer.

First, non-payment of a contract obligation such as a car purchase loan is not a crime, and the buyer does not commit theft by failure to pay, without some additional facts such as an attempt to deprive the seller of the property, perhaps coupled with his disappearance.

Second, the right to repossess an auto for non-payment of the financing arises out of the seller having retained a security interest in the auto. In professionally-prepared sale papers, the seller or other party providing financing will take a security interest in the car. If the papers are prepared by non-lawyers, it is very possible that there may be no security interest and the unpaid balance will be an unsecured loan and there is no right to repossess.

When there is a default on a contract, there are two common results. One is that the contract is rescinded. When that happens, the parties are put back into prior status, before the contract, except for actual damages. You would get the car back, and the buyer would get his money back except for your actual damages (which could be pretty substantial).

The other common outcome is the contract stays in place, and the seller gets damages representing his expectation as if the contract were fully performed. The buyer gets the car, you get the full price, plus maybe some interest, costs of suit, and, if the contract had an attorney fee clause, you'd get that too.