Legal action regarding auto title transfer

[mollycrance]

I recently sold a car that I had been leasing to an individual. Because the title was not clear at the time of the transaction I agreed to maintain the cars registration and insurance until both could be transferred into the buyers name. I signed a piece of paper stating that "I will maintain registration and insurance until the title is transferred." Upon recieving the cleared title I overnighted the title to the buyer and stated that I would be cancelling the insurance as of midnight the following day. Several days later the buyer called to say that he could not facilitate the transaction because he did not have a bill of sale. I reminded him at this time that the insurance had already been cancelled due to the delivery of the title and the buyer stated, "That's okay I was able to get it insured already." I replied, "Oh I didn't think that you could insure a car that wasn't titled or registered to you." He said, "I called my insurance company and got the car covered. Don't worry about the insurance, I just need a bill of sale." I again overnighted him the bill of sale. Approximately one week later the buyer said that he was still having difficulty with the title transfer and was sending all of the documents back to me to fix. He sent the documents to the wrong address (though I had written my new address on all of the overnighted documents) and did not receive them for 10 days. I cleared up the documents, facilitated the title transfer through a dealership and now the car is legally titled and registered to the buyer.
Now the buyer has said that he will be suing me for the insurance that he paid, additional transportation costs, and possible punitive damages for the time period up until the time that the title was officially in his name.
Can he do this? He has sent me a letter stating that I have 2 weeks to reimburse him for his troubles or he will seek legal action. Can I counter sue for harassment?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I recently sold a car that I had been leasing to an individual. Because the title was not clear at the time of the transaction I agreed to maintain the cars registration and insurance until both could be transferred into the buyers name. I signed a piece of paper stating that "I will maintain registration and insurance until the title is transferred." Upon recieving the cleared title I overnighted the title to the buyer and stated that I would be cancelling the insurance as of midnight the following day. Several days later the buyer called to say that he could not facilitate the transaction because he did not have a bill of sale. I reminded him at this time that the insurance had already been cancelled due to the delivery of the title and the buyer stated, "That's okay I was able to get it insured already." I replied, "Oh I didn't think that you could insure a car that wasn't titled or registered to you." He said, "I called my insurance company and got the car covered. Don't worry about the insurance, I just need a bill of sale." I again overnighted him the bill of sale. Approximately one week later the buyer said that he was still having difficulty with the title transfer and was sending all of the documents back to me to fix. He sent the documents to the wrong address (though I had written my new address on all of the overnighted documents) and did not receive them for 10 days. I cleared up the documents, facilitated the title transfer through a dealership and now the car is legally titled and registered to the buyer.
Now the buyer has said that he will be suing me for the insurance that he paid, additional transportation costs, and possible punitive damages for the time period up until the time that the title was officially in his name.
Can he do this? He has sent me a letter stating that I have 2 weeks to reimburse him for his troubles or he will seek legal action. Can I counter sue for harassment?

I have no idea what the buyer is talking about. What is the problem? His statement about punitive damages makes me think that he is huffing and puffing about nothing. First of all, what additional costs did the buyer incur? What damages is he talking about? Second, what is the problem with insurance? Is he claiming he couldn't use the car for 10 days so he's suing you for that? Tell him to speak to his insurance company about that issue.

You might be want to tell him that if he does sue, you will countersue and also for hiring an attorney to defend this frivolous lawsuit (not that you'll end up hiring an attorney but you can say what you want to!) Good luck and let us know how things turn out.