Small Claims Defense Question

[servantofone]

"You have been sued."

So, I'm being sued, but the plaintiff spelled my first name incorrectly. It is spelled with a "z" instead of an "s". Can I use this to my advantage?

Also, what he listed as my home address is actually the business address, I obviously don't live there! In the Business Address field, he wrote the word "SAME". Can I do anything with this or does the court care?

I'd like to buy a little time. Basically, a guy dropped off his ATV to have it worked on. I called him with the estimate and he wouldn't call back. So it sat there for like 18 days when on a weekend someone cut the fence and took it. I rent a small outdoor space to work on vehicles. The whole lot is surrounded by a chainlink fence.

The plaintiff is now asking me to pay him the full price of a working ATV (his had about 1500 of broken parts plus the cost labor) and then lost hours of work to sue me. First off, I don't own the property in which it was stored, I only rent a small little space to work on vehicles. When his ATV was stolen, it had been 18 days since he dropped it off.

Is there any way to get this dismissed or delayed, or should I go to court and just get it over with? What is my best defense?

Thanks for any help you can give me....

 

[seniorjudge]

Bailment...remember!?

 

[Duranie]

i say show up. If you do not show up then you will lose in default. The misspellings do not count.

Did you file a police report whenit was stolen? He has to prove you were negligent in order to get any damages. He can only sue you for what the ATV was worth at the time it was stolen.

Also keep records of any contact you tried to make with him.

 

[servantofone]

Bailment

Bailment...remember!?

I was not familiar with "Bailment" until now. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it would make it appear maybe I am liable. I can show the judge that he is demanding $3,000 more for the ATV than it is worth. I also asked him 18 days prior to the incident to either approve the work that needed to be done or to pick it up and take it away. He did not return any calls. Considering that the grounds on which I work do not belong to me, I could not have increased or decreased security. The theif cut a whole in the fence and took it out. Does this change anything, or am I truly liable for this? In hindsight, I can't see any way I could have avoided it except for him to have picked it up as originally requested.

Thanks!

 

[seniorjudge]

Re-read that article.

Generally, if you have not committed negligence, you are not liable.