Legal Question in Product Liability in Utah

lemon boat

We bought a boat from this lady in our county. She stated that the bottom half of the motor was rebuilt before she parked it in her garage 4 years ago. We actually trusted her on her word.She had a friend there explaining things about the boat to us. This friend told me that the lady didn't know how to drive the boat very good, she would put the throttle up all the way and then put the gear selector into forward. Being as this was my first boat buy I didn't take much stock about this. Well the first time we put the boat in water the motor started , but would not go forward, or reverse. needless to say I had to row the boat back onto the trailer. we took the boat to a certified boat mechanic. He told us that the forward, and reverse gears along with the clutch were destroyed. He told us that the only way this could have occured, is to throttle up and then put gear selector into forward. Also it would weaken the Transom, which by the way was also ruined. Do we have any recourse to get any of the money back we spent on buying the boat? Or is it just my hard luck on buying a used boat.Even if we could get half of our money back, it would make us feel better about the whole thing.Please any response would be appreciated. Thanks, Kevin


Asked on 7/17/06, 10:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

Re: lemon boat

She had a duty to disclose any material defects in the boat. Having a 3rd party sell the boat for her does not release her from the obligation to disclose. She probably knew or should have known that the transmission gears were defective. Tell her you want the refund or that you will take her to court.

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Answered on 7/18/06, 9:46 am


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