Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

My husband purchased a Harley-Davidson motorcycle from a dealership about 8 years ago. He was given a name & phone number of a guy (who worked at the dealership as a mechanic at the time) who works on them. My husband then, called him and asked him to rebuild it for him, and they had a verbal agreement that the mechanic would work on the bike as we gave him money. He had the entire bike, except for the seat. We have given him $2000.00 for mechanical and body repairs, $2200.00 for a paint job, all in cash. He's had the bike for approx 7 1/2 years. We just found out that he has sold and/or tried to sell it to several other people. Right now, the motor is in a shop being rebuilt for someone else who bought it, the body with someone else and the forks are on the mechanics bike. We spoke with the deputy in the county that the mechanic lives in, to report it stolen and he is giving it over to the prosecuting attorney. He told us "not to hold our breaths because posession is 9/10's of the law." We have the title, and we still pay property taxes on it. How do we proceed? At this point, we're out $6000.00 for the bike, and $4200.00 for repairs that were never done.


Asked on 12/06/10, 10:05 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Smith LawSmith

Assuming you have the title, you can sue the mechanic for conversiona nd the cost of the money you sent him plus interest. You will have to prove that you gave him the bike to fix and the omey to fix it. But, you may not get all that you originally paid for the bike, Instead you may only get the fair market value as of the date of your trial.

Good luck

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Answered on 12/12/10, 6:26 pm


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