Son being sued by friend

[sesramk]

Hello My son is posibly being suied by one of his friends for a auto repair he did on his friends car. He changed the oil on the car in late may the vehicle owner claims that the the car suddenly started leaking oil two days ago. the vehicle owner claims it will repairs and my son should pay for it.

The vehicle owner stated after he noticed the problem he continued to drive the vehicle knowning it was not opperating correcetly. Until the problem got noticely worse

I would like to know what kind of case his friend has and what i we can do to protect ourselfs ?


Thank you

 

[jacksgal]

The friend will have burden of proof to deal with. In other words he will need to prove the work your son did caused the damage.

 

[presutin]

It is a he said/he said (50/50) situation. Your son's friend can go to small claims court and state that prior to the oil change, the car had no record of an oil leak problem and the problem showed up after the repair performed by your son. Your son in turn, can state that the friend could not really determine if that was the case since your son was not the regular mechanic for the service and has no background in car repairs. Your can offer to pay for a professional to take a look at the leak and repair (if any is warranted) what was damaged to avoid having to go to small claims court or you can let the magistrate decide after he reviews all the evidence who is to bear the burden of such repair (if any is warranted). Hope this helps!

 

[sesramk]

thanks to those of you who replied.

I have a quick follow up question. Is my son legaly culpable if there was no warrenty/guarantee written, verble or otherwise.

 

[presutin]

If this ends up in court, that will be up to the judge to decide after he reviews the evidence.