sold a boat and it busted!

[bjcsc]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

That sounds like a smart plan to me. You'd be crazy to handle this without an attorney. While these matters can seem "smaller" than most other cases, they taken equally as serious by the courts. If you're not 100% up to speed on the law irrevocable things can happen. I am aware that everything is relative and that some people, maybe even some people posting on this thread, make $3500 in a day. But I'm not one of them. I wouldn't risk or forgo the loss...

 

[GatorTom]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Make sure you counter sue for legal consulting fees, lost wages, travel, etc. You will probably end up counter suing for $2500+. They will probably withdraw their case. If they do, still sue them for the money you've already spent. I hate people like this.

 

[ovlo]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Make sure you counter sue for legal consulting fees, lost wages, travel, etc. You will probably end up counter suing for $2500+. They will probably withdraw their case. If they do, still sue them for the money you've already spent. I hate people like this.

1+ I would counter sue for lost time and lawyer costs

dont go down there withount a lawyer I have paid for there services a few times and was glad I did every time

this sucks I wish you good luck

 

[Silvertip]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

I don't understand why you/us are still discussing this. You owe nothing. What's worse is you seem to be hell bent on giving him something for the repairs. Do that and you may be indicating a certain degree of fault after which they come after you for the entire amount. Geez -- when you are in a hole -- stop digging!

 

[brownies]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

He with the most witnesses wins.
If you can't take people, Take signed, notorized statements.
If the other guy has 20 people saying he's right. You better have 21 saying he's wrong. (or 121 would be best).
proof of last service, receipts, etc. In the past..Did the neighbors see you changing the oil, polishing your boat, go for a ride?

 

[country_bumpkin]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

I don't understand why you/us are still discussing this. You owe nothing. What's worse is you seem to be hell bent on giving him something for the repairs. Do that and you may be indicating a certain degree of fault after which they come after you for the entire amount. Geez -- when you are in a hole -- stop digging!

Hell no! I stopped considering giving anything back the third time she called me!

Here is the problem: If I do nothing, don't show up at court, the plantiff wins, no questions asked. So I either need to get it thrown out beforehand, or take the day off and drive the 3 hours each way to defend myself. I would hope for the former.

I'm glad it's still being discussed. It's providing some great tips for future buyers and sellers. It's given me some good advice and also provided a good bit of humor and entertainment.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Hang in there CB. I'm not familiar with the law in your neck of the woods but it sounds like you're standing on good ground. Problem is the cost to defend your position could add up quick. If I were in your shoes I'd ask your lawyer to file a request (sopoena) to have the boat surrendered to your mechanic (or a qualified Mercruiser mechanic) for inspection at their cost. As it stands right now all you've got is the "Mom's" word that their mechanic stated the engine was pooched. Any good mechanic would have to rip it down to find out the cause of the oil loss. I didn't read anywhere in this thread that they were claiming for tear down costs. Anything else as to what actually happened to the engine is pure speculation at this point.

Start preparing the counter-suit for legal expenses, travel costs and lost wages etc. Have your lawyer time delivery of the sopoena so they are servered 10 minutes before you enter the courtroom. That'll toss 'em off balance, not that they're not balanced now, but it'll rattle them and the cracks in their stories will appear even more evident in court.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

you are correct in that if you don't show up you lose by default. A lawyer can show up for you in most of the prelim stuff they will know when to tell you to show up.

 

[capecodder116]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

You owe him nothing .....buyer beware when purchasing "AS IS"....if there was no oil in the motor it certainly would not have run for three hours....

 

[Boomyal]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Sold the boat for $4,200

They claim that it will take $3,500 to fix it. So, yeah, that's what there suing for. Sounds high to me. You can buy a BRAND NEW engine on ebay for 2K.


The lawyer is a friend and I certainly intend on paying him. I am relying on him to tell me what to do. I do agree I can represent myself IF I have to travel to Knoxville , but a little help on the front end to try and get the thing thrown out, and then some coaching IF I ultimately have to show up gives me more confidence.

Why doesn't your attorney friend know about the jurisdiction issue? That and this

He signed a bill of sale that specifically said this boat is sold " as is, no warrantys

will trump all issues. PERIOD! Unless they can prove fraud, which would be impossible. Find out about the jurisdiction issue then go to court yourself, if necessary. You will win, hands down.

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Definitely keep posting in on this. We are all very interested in your outcome.

When is the court date? Do you even know who their mechanic is? It would be tempting to call the mechanic and ask some questions to help you prepare your case.

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

I thought everyone was good in Tennessee? Wow, I feel for ya man...this a stupid situation brought on by stupid people.

Cory

 

[87 bayliner]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

let them sue. ( lol) dang babies. id be pissed but wouldnt hold the seller responsible. the boy wont admit he screwwed it up so let them do their worst. i wouldnt sweat it.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Looking forward to hearing the outcome of this.NO WAY THEY SHOULD GET A DAMN DIME!! Dang whiney babies!!
I hope you can sue them for wasting your time!

 

[Acer2428]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Maybe if you had sold them a boat with a rotten transom, but not a motor that blew.

This is stupid.... motors are cheap.

 

[shamus2]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

so when is the court date?

 

[Scoop]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Glad you have a lawyer especially if they have a lawyer. hopefully your lawyer can get it thrown out before you travel, they will.

Your lawyer will know what to throw at them.

It will be obvious that an 18 year old with a new boat that ran for 5 hours must have blown it up himself. Even if it used oil, it was his job to check that and keep an eye on the gauge.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

I've been involved in a similar situation involving a motorcycle I sold an 18 yr old kid a year or so ago. The kid came from Georgia to Kentucky to buy my bike. It only had 800 miles on it before he bought it, and two weeks later I get a phone call from his mom saying that I was responsible for the engine blowing up on it. I was like .... do what???? The bike was less than a year old, a 2005 Yamaha YZF-r1, and with around 800 miles on it. They said that the warranty would not cover the repairs because of 'negligence on the owner's part' which had become his responsibility 2 weeks prior. Come to find out he put close to 400 miles on her in 2 weeks, and ran around in first gear reving the engine to sound tough everywhere he went. He ended up locking up the engine, transy, and costing himself close to $2k in hospital bills when he flew over the front. I never saw the inside of a courtroom on this due to my attorney filling papers after I had received a summons.

The 'great' thing about this country of ours is that anyone can sue over any little thing these days. People abuse the system! As for a 'lemon law' being stated earlier. That is ONLY a law that applies to NEW vehicles that are bought from dealers, and are still within their 36k mile warranty. It probably only cost them $10 to file the suit with the County Attorney, and they are hoping you won't show up so they will win by default. NO MATTER WHAT ... if your attorney can't get it dropped then you crawl there if you have to. Just don't miss that hearing.

 

[country_bumpkin]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

Court date is August 29th. 3 Weeks from today.

And Lucky is right. They filed the suit themselves without an attorney.

I just talked to my attorney, and well.....I'm going to keep things discreet at this time. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just in case someone reads this thread and can identify either parties.

I will post events as they happen, but no strategy and speculation at this time.

Thanks eveyone. I have even posted on a legal website and seem to be getting the same advice there. Oh, someone else just posted there with a similar situation

http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=369614

 

[sbulla]

Re: sold a boat and it busted!

I thought everyone was good in Tennessee? Wow, I feel for ya man...this a stupid situation brought on by stupid people.

Cory

Hey, I'm in TN and I'm good! ;-) Not a native though.

As a matter of fact, I live just outside of Knoxville and can almost picture the people that are doing this to Country. Probably the kind you'd just want to *****-slap and tell 'em to own up to their mistakes!

Good luck, Country and keep us informed.

Sonny