Civil Suit Over Vehicle Deposit (PA)

[jrlew87]

Your relative is the defendant. Your relative must appear or risk a default judgment against him. Your relative's defense is that he was acting as your agent and is not responsible for acting on your instructions.

You cannot speak for him or represent him but he can call you as a witness and you can testify in his behalf.

He can then ask for a dismissal.

The plaintiff then will either have to file a lawsuit against you or ask permission of the court to amend his complaint. What happens after that is anybody's guess.

I noticed that you posted your question on two other legal websites. I doubt that you'll get much different advice on them.

Thanks for the reply. Yes he plans on calling me as a witness. What do you mean a lawsuit against me? An appeal after a judgement is made?

 

[army judge]

Thanks for the reply. Yes he plans on calling me as a witness. What do you mean a lawsuit against me? An appeal after a judgement is made?

You aren't named as the defendant. You aren't being sued, your relative is the defendant. As you said, you're merely a witness.

However, in this case it might be better strategy for both of you, if your relative cross-claimed against you, as he wasn't doing this for profit. He stood to make zero money, as he was simply doing you a favor.

He can therefore, cross-claim against you, naming you as the true defendant, or co-defendant.

I suggest you research it, and proceed appropriately.

If you're named as c-defendant, you can then claim you are the one to be sued, seek to have the cause dismissed for lack of claim against the relative, or the relative could simply seek the same result.

I see the relative as the true innocent here, as he was simply doing you a favor, a NOT FOR HOS PROFIT, favor to you.

 

[adjusterjack]

What do you mean a lawsuit against me?

Exactly that. The plaintiff hasn't sued you, he sued your relative. If he loses against your relative he still has the option to sue you.

 

[jrlew87]

Exactly that. The plaintiff hasn't sued you, he sued your relative. If he loses against your relative he still has the option to sue you.

Oh ok yea. I thought you meant sue him again. I understand. Alright what if this lawsuit gets tossed and they decide to sue me but I send a certified letter with a money order before I am served. Just to get this over with.

Exactly that. The plaintiff hasn't sued you, he sued your relative. If he loses against your relative he still has the option to sue you.

 

[army judge]

Oh ok yea. I thought you meant sue him again. I understand. Alright what if this lawsuit gets tossed and they decide to sue me but I send a certified letter with a money order before I am served. Just to get this over with.

It appears you aren't being sued.
If you do what you've asked about, it shouldn't affect the lawsuit negatively.
It might cause the aggrieved party to dismiss the lawsuit.
Again, as suggested earlier, REAL legal advice obtained via a FREE initial consultation with a licensed lawyer in your county might be advisable before you drop the loot on him.

Why?

Because he might see the check as a gift, and still sue your relative seeking more money.

Plus, there's always the looming issue of title transfer and car sales in your state.

That might still come back to bite someone criminally.

If I were to answer your question, I'd say do nothing.
If the judge agrees with the angry plaintiff, you could fund your relative with the money to pay the judgment.

Too bad you couldn't settle this when it first began.

 

[jrlew87]

It appears you aren't being sued.
If you do what you've asked about, it shouldn't affect the lawsuit negatively.
It might cause the aggrieved party to dismiss the lawsuit.
Again, as suggested earlier, REAL legal advice obtained via a FREE initial consultation with a licensed lawyer in your county might be advisable before you drop the loot on him.

Why?

Because he might see the check as a gift, and still sue your relative seeking more money.

Plus, there's always the looming issue of title transfer and car sales in your state.

That might still come back to bite someone criminally.

If I were to answer your question, I'd say do nothing.
If the judge agrees with the angry plaintiff, you could fund your relative with the money to pay the judgment.

Too bad you couldn't settle this when it first began.

Case has been resolved and I feel inclined to let you know the results due to your help and advice.

Vehicle was sold for the same price two weeks ago to a different person. I then met a lawyer through a friend who stated that she'll handle the case quickly for me if I buy them dinner. After giving her all the facts of the case and such her initial plan of attack was to get the case dismissed because the buyer was suing the wrong party. The buyer was suing my relative instead of the vehicle owner (me). She stated this to the judge and also asked the judge to allow the defendant to rectify the situation to just give back the deposit to end the civil suit. My lawyer also asked the judge to throw out the pain and suffering claim that the plaintiff wanted to argue because he thought it was ridiculous. Surprisingly the plaintiff agreed to this but they also wanted the court cost and filing fee from us. The judge stated that he would waive the filing fee of $108 if the plaintiff would agree to accept the deposit and settle the case. Myself and my lawyer thought that was very surprising but accepted the decision because it favored us and we wanted to get it over quickly. Judgement was made. Case over.

Then.....after the plaintiff had left the building and drove away; myself and my lawyer just chatted in the lobby for a few minutes and said our thank you's to each other. As we were walking out, the court secretary runs after us and says: "I'm sorry the judge told you he could waive the filing fee, but that's actually not something we can do". My lawyer looked at the secretary and said respectfully that they'll need to explain that to her because we just got a decision from the judge and we settled it as far as we're concerned. She said she understood and it was the judges fault.

So it's over after all that BS. I didn't lose any money and I learned a lot and I made a new friend. I would love to be a fly on the wall when the plaintiff has to argue to the court about the filing fee they have to pay. It ended better than expected and the plaintiff got a little does of karma to go with their attitude.

Again, thanks for the help.

 

[txls]

Thanks for coming back to let us know what happened.

 

[army judge]

Case has been resolved and I feel inclined to let you know the results due to your help and advice.

Vehicle was sold for the same price two weeks ago to a different person. I then met a lawyer through a friend who stated that she'll handle the case quickly for me if I buy them dinner. After giving her all the facts of the case and such her initial plan of attack was to get the case dismissed because the buyer was suing the wrong party. The buyer was suing my relative instead of the vehicle owner (me). She stated this to the judge and also asked the judge to allow the defendant to rectify the situation to just give back the deposit to end the civil suit. My lawyer also asked the judge to throw out the pain and suffering claim that the plaintiff wanted to argue because he thought it was ridiculous. Surprisingly the plaintiff agreed to this but they also wanted the court cost and filing fee from us. The judge stated that he would waive the filing fee of $108 if the plaintiff would agree to accept the deposit and settle the case. Myself and my lawyer thought that was very surprising but accepted the decision because it favored us and we wanted to get it over quickly. Judgement was made. Case over.

Then.....after the plaintiff had left the building and drove away; myself and my lawyer just chatted in the lobby for a few minutes and said our thank you's to each other. As we were walking out, the court secretary runs after us and says: "I'm sorry the judge told you he could waive the filing fee, but that's actually not something we can do". My lawyer looked at the secretary and said respectfully that they'll need to explain that to her because we just got a decision from the judge and we settled it as far as we're concerned. She said she understood and it was the judges fault.

So it's over after all that BS. I didn't lose any money and I learned a lot and I made a new friend. I would love to be a fly on the wall when the plaintiff has to argue to the court about the filing fee they have to pay. It ended better than expected and the plaintiff got a little does of karma to go with their attitude.

Again, thanks for the help.

You're welcome, happy to hear it all got resolved to your satisfaction.

Answers and suggestions are very often a cooperative effort on our little piece of the Internet.

It can be a bit disorganized, caustic, and chaotic around here at times, but we all mean well and try to do what we can to help our posters get the answers they seek, or at least pointed in the right direction.

Good luck to you, mate, and thanks for the feedback.

PS: Pain and suffering claims go nowhere is small claims courts. Small claims courts can only award money to satisfy claims for actual damages suffered.

The other one that makes me chuckle is "intentional infliction of emotional distress"!

 

[leslie82]

Wow. No need to get defensive. All i asked for is advice. I never once say anything derogatory towards your response. If you don't care then why respond? I asked politely for advice, never demanded anything and now I have to defend myself over this?

Why did you bother to respond either?

 

[adjusterjack]

Also happy to see a positive result based on our discussions. We rarely get that kind of feedback and appreciate it when we do.