Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Colorado

Hello, My husband bought a car about 6 months ago from a customer of his, from a auto body shop where he used to work. The customer told my husband that the vehicle (suv) was a 2004 Suburban. upon buying the vehicle from this customer, my husband replaced the transmission, as well as the vehicle also had some other routine work done to it. Upon fixing up the vehicle, my husband sold this vehicle to another gentleman via a craigslist ad. Now the guy in which my husband sold the vehicle to, is trying to sue my husband, as well as he also tried to sue the customer that my husband originally bought the vehicle from, until they made a deal against my husband. About a month ago, the gentleman that is suing my husband, contacted the original owner of the vehicle, and told him that if he gave up all of my husbands personal information to get a hold of him, than he would drop the suit against him. Upon this agreement, the customer that my husband had originally bought the car from, called my husbands boss which gave the customer all of our personal information. Name, address etc, and then fired my husband shortly after. Now the guy that we sold the vehicle too is trying to sue just my husband for the money back by stating that he sold him a vehicle that it was a 2004, when it is really a 2002. My husband did not know that this vehicle was a 2002, when he sold it. He just went by what the gentleman that he bought the car from told him. So our question is where should we go from here?


Asked on 6/15/16, 12:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Harkess Colorado Legal Solutions

Your husband will have to file an answer to the lawsuit. The issue at trial will be whether the year of the vehicle was a material representation on which the buyer reasonably relied. If so, your husband will probably have to return the purchase price and take the car back. If he can show that the year of the car was not important to the deal or that the buyer had the same ability to determine the year as he did and therefore did not reasonably rely on his representation then the plaintiff will lose. If the title states the correct year and your husband gave over the title at the time the sale happened, for instance, the reliance on your husband's statement about a different year might not be reasonable.

If there is enough money on your line, your husband might consider adding a third-party claim against the person he bought the car from so that if he loses he may be able to recover from that person.

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Answered on 6/15/16, 12:17 pm


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