Dissatisfied with a product

[ibprice77]

We live in Virginia. My husband purchased a professionally assembled short block from a company in Ohio. The Ohio company purchased the aluminum block needed for the job from a manufacturer in New York. The aluminum block he paid for was to be a new block. The block he received had machining errors that were repaired for a different engine type. He was not given the option to refuse this block. He was just sent the block and charged the full price. On the manufacturer's web site blocks that have similar defects are being sold for 40%-65% less than the original price. My husband had, himself, purchased one of the clearance blocks; directly from the manufacturer; for a big discount during the same time that he had the Ohio company do the job on this one. When the issue with the repairs was addressed by my husband he was told that there is nothing wrong with this block. His issue is why should he have to pay the price of a new block and given a repaired block. Who does he have to address in the event of a law suite, the Ohio company or the manufacturer? Where should he file his claim, in Virginia or the home state of the companies?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Unfortunately chances are that your claim cannot be brought in small claims court. In virtually all of them, they are courts of limited jurisdiction that require the defendant live in the county of the court. You may be better off filing a claim in civil court of VA but it is not clear whether there would be 'long arm jurisdiction' over the company in Ohio. The safest route might be to file in Ohio. You may need a lawyer to look over the details but I'll say that it is likely that the latter is the place to file with the least risk of being dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.