Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida
I sold my dog when he was 2 months old to a friend of my girlfriend. After about 6 months she could no longer provide a home for him and asked me to keep him until she got back onto her feet. It has been almost 5 months now and i have grown attached to him. I told her that i will give her the money back that she had paid me for him and keep him. She refuses to accept the money and now wants to come take him back, can i legally defend myself from this occurrence?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Not really. You took the dog to care for it during an unknown hiatus and now you dont want to give it back. She likely could sue you for return of her property. I would try and work this out between the two of you rather than allow the court system to intervene.
Once you sold the dog to her, the dog became hers. Once she owned the dog, how she acquired the dog is pretty meaningless. In other words, whether she bought the dog from a pet store, or adopted it from a pet shelter, or bought it from Joe down the street or bought it from you, it's her dog. You did a nice thing and took the dog in, but it's not your dog. It's her dog, and you need to give it back. As Mr Stein advised, work this out between you (which really means..give the woman her dog. Today.).