small claims court

[taa_]

I took over payments of my aunts truck because she couldn't afford it and I needed a vehicle at the time. I was making the payments directly to her and she was paying the bank. This was a verbal agreement and nothing was ever signed or changed into my name. I have been paying the truck payment and insurance, that is also in her name, for the last 18 months or so. She lives in Florida and at the time I lived in PA. She came to PA with the truck and that is where we made the verbal agreement. I moved to Colorado in July of 2001 but before I did I left the truck payment in PA, since she was coming there and had asked me to do this. I also left a note that I wanted to put the truck in my name(I did this at the end of June 2001). I never got the info or a response so at the end of July I called her for the paperwork. She told me the payoff amount but refused to send me any paperwork so I could see it in writing. At this point I was not going to just send a check without seeing any information from the bank so I went and bought a new truck. I no longer sent her payments after July 2001. I told her I didn't want the truck and she said she would come and get it. Later she denied that she ever said she would come and get it and said she would lie and take me to court.
I even offered to ship it back to her and she refused to accept that offer. She couldn't afford the truck but wouldn't give me the correct information to take it off her hands. She is after money because now she is sueing me in small claims court for $5000 and the truck is not even worth that. Isn't it her responsibility since her name is on the truck and I was basically renting from her?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

What is she suing you for? Is she suing you for the value of the truck that I assume she lost? Remember, she has to PROVE her case.

Now you can state that you agreed to purchase the truck but she kept refusing to sign the paperwork. Towards the end of the lease you decided that you were no fool -- if she wanted to straddle both sides of the fence and not sign a deal then there was no deal and she can't come to court and cry foul now. She hoped to have you be the sucker and make payments and then all she had to do at the end was to clean up by paying the payoff amount. This is fraud... Remember that if the truck was repossessed, it wasn't because of the location of the truck, but because this woman decided not to pay the payoff amount!

You might want to countersue her for the payments you made, since you made the payments in contemplation of being the owner of the truck. She breached your agreement by not signing over the title to the truck. Let the court decide what the rental amount should have been and recover the amounts in excess.

In some states it is also permissible to record conversations if one party consents. This might be such a situation where it may be beneficial to have a tape, especially since she said that she would commit perjury. I wouldn't use it unless I would need to (and check your state law).

If you go to court, you should be prepared to bring proof of payment. If this was in cash (NEVER pay in cash) then you should bring proof of withdrawal of the money on a regular basis from the bank. If you paid by check, show proof of payment of the check.