Small Claims Court. Civil litigation

[mstobi]

Hello. This is my first communications on TheLaw site. My interest is in the area of civil litigation in Pennsylvania. I am bringing suit against an independent construction contractor. This action is the result of a contractor who used his vehicle title to secure from me the prepayment for his work on my home remodeling project.( Supposedly this money was to pay for insurance so he could continue work.) The work didn't get done. The vehicle now seems to no longer exist. The contractor says he cannot meet the debt and claims to have no other assets. (He rents) My prediction during the litigation is that the magistrate will issue judgment in favor of the plaintiff (me), the required time will pass, I will proceed to an Order to Execute, and the constable will be unable to find any assets. My questions are: 1) How can I find out the status of the vehicle that was used to secure my prepayment for the future work? If this vehicle was sold while being used to secure a loan, I believe I can then move the suit into the criminal arena. Perhaps the knowledge of this possibility will "urge" the contractor to settle the debt. 2) Can someone give me the legal citation (this citation would have to be either PA state law or The U.S. Third District Circuit Court for federal law.) which identifies items exempt from execution including allegedly a clause that protects a worker's tools, including a vehicle, that are needed to practice his profession? I have searched The Pennsylvania Code and cannot find exempt items other than insurances, retirement funds and a $300. deduction. 3) If the contractor agrees to "barter" the debt repayment by doing other work in the house, do I have to accept that offer? (After 1 and ½ years of trying to get the contractor to honor the contract, I had the work done by another person I have papers showing the time period.) Experience leads me to believe some independent contractors use the legal process to swindle people out of money. These people operate on the knowledge of the usual human behavior reaction that if the amount of money is small enough, the swindled, who will probably spend more than the value of the debt to hire a lawyer and pursue "justice", will simple write off the whole thing to life experience. I agree that this is often the case. Because this debt is relatively small, and I have the time, I am doing this action pro se and am therefore seeking any help that can be provided. Thanks.

 

[seniorjudge]

What you are interested in finding is the statute that makes it illegal to sell mortgaged personal property.

I am assuming that you perfected your lien on the truck before you gave him the dough. I couldn't really follow your post on this point.

Pennsylvania statues are poorly-indexed online. You may have to go to a library and search the books.