Legal Question in Personal Injury in Washington

so i don't know where this category falls into but vehicle accident law is the closest i could find.

what happened was i put my car for sale on craigslist and a guy was interested in my car and said he could do payments for 200 dollars a week. i was skeptical about this idea, but i ended up giving the guy a chance as he said he need a car for work.

i told him that we would have to write an agreement out on the car stating he would pay 200 dollars every week he gets paid. and that by early Sept. if the car is not paid off he would have to return the car back to me. i gave him the titles and all. so we set the agreement with 2 witness which they both signed. i even took a picture of his license to make sure i knew everything about this guy.

well the first week he says that he had to put money into getting tags and such which i let slide. as one week passes he has stopped answering my text and calls. i left him 2 voice mails asking for a update with no reply.

rewind back to when we sold the car the guy who i "sold" the car too phone has died and used one of his buddies phone. i saved his number as well which i text asking if he knows anything about the car. he replies, " yeah the guy that you sold your car too is not going to pay you he took your car sorry man".

at this point i was pretty uneasy. i asked if he knew where the guy lived and he said yes. and that the guy and him are no longer friends because he has screwed him over on something and he has fraud-ed a guy before with a chevy. and he brags around town about it.

all i want to know is if i could get my car back or if i could get money for my car. that's all i'm asking. and what would be my first action i should take? thanks so much!


Asked on 8/26/11, 6:17 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Amir John Showrai The Pacific Law Firm, PLLC

You are going to have to sue him in small claims court (assuming you sold the car for less than $5,000). The specific form of relief you seek is called replevin, which means you ask the court to order that which is wrongfully in possession of another to you.

Google "replevin" and you will learn a bit about it. I'm guessing this is not worth hiring a lawyer to help you prepare for, and no matter what, lawyers cannot represent you in small claims, so help in preparing is the limit of what they can do.

You are also going to want to make sure to line up your witnesses to take to court and have all your documentation with you when you go to court. Make sure you provide copies of all documentation to the court to prove your case. Make sure you serve the other side with copies of whatever you give the court, even if you know they already have it, serve it again.

Best of luck.

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Answered on 8/26/11, 6:37 pm


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