Legal Question in Consumer Law in Virginia

Automotive Damage

I was involved in an auto accident. My insurance paid for repairs to my car. My brother has an auto shop who was assigned to do the work. During the time my brother got sick and had the work subbed out to another shop. As a result of this sublet, the auto shop replaced my radiator and crossed the lines going to my transmission. My transmission was completely messed up. The shop talked with my insurance company. We moved the vehicle to a Autorized Ford dealership to have all the codes cleared. At the Ford dealership is where the tech found the lines crossed. The insurance would not pay on this repair leaving me with a 3,300.00 bill to pay. I asked the sublet shop to pay for this repair since they crossed these lines. They are ignoring me and feel its not there problem. I am asking who and how to get some restitution for this problem. Any advice would be useful. Some say I need to take my brothers shop to court, others say to go straight to the sublet shop. Before I pay out big bucks for lawyer fees. I felt I would give this a try. Again any advice would be helpful.


Asked on 2/27/07, 10:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Automotive Damage

Rather than sue your brother's shop,

and then in turn having them sue the shop which actually caused the damage, you should be able to sue and recover directly from the latter in small claims court. You very likely will need to have the tech guy from the Ford dealership who discovered the transmission problem available as an expert witness in your case.

The jurisdictional monetary limit is

now $5000 for small claims courts in the Commonwealth.

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Answered on 2/27/07, 10:20 am


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