Courtshark is right on. Also the statute of limitions for breach of contract in California is two years for an oral contract and four years for a written contract.

 

You should also try to determine whether you've been properly "served" with process (that is, the complaint or official claim papers). It looks like from the docket entries that you quote above that there was a hearing on the proof of service issue on 5/10/07. You need proper notice of these things in order to be bound by them. The process standards tend to be very relaxed in small claims cases, however. Don't know what the small claims jurisdiction amount is for CA or FL (could be $8k is a small claim - need to check, this is important to know). Also not sure which state's law would apply. I would argue yours does, and not the buyer's. The UCC lets the parties pick. Anyway, these procedural issues need to be dealt with by counsel. I'd start with a FL lawyer first. Unfortunately, the case is small enough that it may be hard to find a lawyer willing to take it so that it is economical for you. Find a young guy (or gal) looking to make a good reputation, and being fresh out of law school will know about these various jurisdiction and basic contract issues. Good luck.

 

Check the emails you have and see if there are replies from him after however you said "as is/without warranty". This will show that he was informed of the conditions of the sale, even if he chose not to read it.

If you can have the email certified for authenticity by your ISP then that should be all you need to convince the judge/jury that he's full of S.

 

Since you didn't ship it to him (he procured the shipper) - it sure sounds like he bought an engine in Florida, not California. Not your fault it found its way to the left coast, so you may have at least a little luck if you check a local legal eagle.

 

The max small claim suit is $7500 and a lawyer cannot represent you. At 8K he is probably taking you to civil court. As mentioned above it also sounds like the transaction happened in Florida so you may want to research what that means. Eitherway check with an attorney. Here are a couple of URLs for CA courts.

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/

http://www.co.marin.ca.us/courts/

 

Do you have nexus in California? How does he intend to make good on his claim? I was under the impression that a defendant had to be sued in his jurisdiction......

Yeah, go get a lawyer to look at the paperwork. It may be as simple as telling him "TS".

 

This is REALLY ugly ! $8,000 for the engine $500 shipping , $2,000 0r so for the installation. $1,000 to remove the " bad engine" , interest and attorney fees .....this thing is easily $ 15-20,000

 

Maybe you could file on him in FL, where the transaction occurred? It's probably illegal to file on you in some state where you do not live or do business. At least actionable.

Assuming the engine turned over as you say he is either trying to rip you off or his shop pulled the old switcheroo after getting the engine. Or they broke the rings after botching a bearing job or something.

Good luck,
-Joel.

 

8g's for a GTS engine? Is that a good deal?

 

I think we sold a couple for $8,500 They do not come up for sale very often .....especially good ones . New they were over $30,000 when Porsche had them.

 

What if the shipper guys thought it would be funny to pull the motor apart and play baseball with the pistons? You can't be accountable for that. lol

 

well, i know alot of people like to get crazy here and share their knowledge of the law. while i agree that you should do something, i would like share this with you.
I can go to an attorney and sue you for you looking at me. Any attorney will will take some of my money and write a letter and bunch of other fancy lawyer stuff and mail it off. This actually done alot, most people just hope to get ANYTHING out of a situation. They will send you a letter suing you for an absured amount and hope to get anything. Because realistically this guy doesn't have much of a case and an attorney doesn't want to go to court over something like this, there is no money it it, so he has little cut, therefore when you get an attorney to write up a counter suit with a whole bunch of lawyer mumbo jumbo written on fancy paper BACK to the guy, his lawyer will say, i need a $3k retainer and we will go to court. Does this guy really wanna spend $3k or more on a lwayer to sue you for what a judge may very well only say you are responsible for half the price of the motor? Not likely.
Your step from here is to go to a lawyer and write back a demand letter for attorney fees and whatever else the attorney wants to make up.

 

How did he find you with the engine? Did you advertise? If so did the adveristment say "as is" , "No Warranty"? Do you have a copy of the ad?

 

I don't get it. You have to go to CA for the hearings? Doesn't sound right at all. I will just say that when I had a relatively minor legal problem, like this really is, I called the Bar Association in my area for a referal. I got a free initial consultation and the guy did a superb job. Maybe I was lucky, but it was free and if I didn't like the results of the consultation, I would have just moved on.