Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Wisconsin
Last week Wednesday, our 2006 Rav4 suddenly died on the Interstate while my wife was driving it to work. We had it towed to our mechanic and he immediately noticed there was no oil in the oil pan and the oil filter was missing. I know quite a bit about cars and both he and I were completely shocked by this. He asked when our last oil change was and I referred him to the sticker on our windshield. Our last oil change was May 16, almost two months ago--we'd driven over 1,000 miles since. Then our mechanic asked if I noticed any oil in our driveway or garage. We had just moved into a new construction home, so everything was basically spotless--no oil stains anywhere. He suggested I go to where we had our last oil change done (the dealership we bought the car from) and tell them this story. I met with the service director and he of course said that his crew put on the right oil filter and applied it correctly. He thought my story was outlandish and said that it had to have been vandalism, which my mechanic and I shot down because our vehicle was never parked outside nor was there any oil stains/spills anywhere on my driveway or in my garage.
So now, my wife and I are left to put in a new engine in our Rav4, as we love this vehicle so much. My question is this--do I have a legitimate case to bring our dealer, who performed our last oil change, so small claims court? Of course I don't have any proof they applied our oil filter correctly but both my mechanic and the dealership's service director both said that "oil filters just don't fall off." We just feel that this wasn't a mechanical malfunction of the vehicle, somebody did something to it.
Thank you so much in advance for any feedback or guidance on the topic.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Anyone who starts a civil lawsuit in WI needs to prove their case by a preponderance of evidence (i.e. 51% likelihood) in order to win. While computing the odds in any case is only guesswork, one question which you definitely need to address is whether or not you can afford the lawsuit, as opposed to spending available funds on fixing the problem. Even if you win, you can be nearly certain that the court system will prove to be slow, uncertain and frustrating. All that being said, an early settlement is also always possible, so you might wish to address that possibility before you sue. Many dealers in this circumstance would offer you a discount on the replacement parts and labor without suing, since circumstances would certainly suggest that someone forgot to tighten down the oil filter here.
Answering this question does not make me your lawyer, and I would normally not do anything else on your case without additional arrangements, although you can ask for clarifications here or also see my past answers to similar questions at http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/53401-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html?sort=recency. View over fifteen years of past answers at http://www.lawguru.com/answers/search/attorney/jknixon or www.jayknixonlaw.com. Answers may contain attorney advertising materials.
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