Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Over the last year, we made a trade with a friend of ours. We traded our pillow top twin mattress in like new condition (valued at $750-$1000) for her memory foam which was in very used condition, duct taped together and blood stains (which she values at $260).

While we had the memory foam, we decided we wanted to trade back and was refused by the other person.

Later on, the memory foam fell apart and had to be thrown away. We told her immediately.

Now, she wants it back, and knows that it has been thrown away. We never recieved our pillow top twin mattress back. We reminded her of the trade, but she wants to take us to court to pay her the $260 that she values the foam at.

Does she have a legal stand? If the judge rules in her favor, what will we be required to do?

(All of this occured in California)


Asked on 6/03/12, 8:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

A small-claims judge will listen patiently to each side, consider any written evidence, then render a decision based upon his or her impression of who is telling the truth. More likely than not, the friend's positiion will be that this was a sale for $260, not a trade, because the trade story seems improbable due to the great discrepancy in value. What will be important is any written evidence that will support one side's version of the story over the other. By the way, mattresses are personal property, not real property.

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Answered on 6/04/12, 8:43 am


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