Badguy Alert!

hi guys...
sorry to hear of the experience with the bad guy with a bad dash pad. When i'm not frying the tires on my 69 383 4-speed fastback formula s, i'm in my downtown pittsburgh law office. i don't mention the fact that i'm a lawyer much because.. well you know.. people hate lawyers... most of the time, i do too. but let me share some thoughts. i've actually filed three lawsuits against folks for stuff i've tried to buy off of ebay ... and i've threatened ebay on one occassion. my first problem on ebay was after i did a "buy it now" for $11k for a 69 formula s out of california. i make it a point to call the seller on the phone for any item i pay more than $100 for just to feel them out and get a real address and full name. when i called the cuda guy in ca, he started to get all nervous when i said i would draw up a sales contract for him to sign before i sent any money. he finally refused to sign anything so i backed out then ebay wanted to give me a negative rating. i told them i would be happy to join them in the action and they decided to drop the negative rating idea. my second situation came when i sent some farm guys in oregon $500 deposit on my 68 formula s. after they had taken the money, they decided to back out of the deal. i filed a suit here in pittsburgh against them seeking $35k in damages and served them with the papers. about a week later i got a call from some old attorney in portland saying they had changed their minds and would sell me the car. i deducted my filing costs from the price of the car and finally got it. my last experience was with a guy on ebay selling mopar parts out of fla. i bought an entire grill assembly and when i opened the box, it looked like someone had taken a hammer to it .. it was in about 100 pieces. he said it was "shipping damage." funny thing was that the box had no damage at all on the outside. i sued him and when he sent me all my money back, i sent him the box of grill parts.

the point is that you are best to adopt the old phrase from the "X files" on tv... "trust no one..." and every state has a local small claims court.. a justice of the peace or district justice or magistrate. just go down and give them $30 or 40 buck to file a complaint and then send the papers to the sob who is trying to screw you. legally, there are problems trying to sue a person in another state in small claims court (most of the time cross-state suits have to be filed in federal court) but it's worth the effort to do it. most shady characters will not hire a lawyer and will just try and settle once they get served...

it's a dangerous world out there... always try to get a written agreement for any high ticket item and it doesn't hurt to call and talk to a seller if you are giving him several hundred bucks..

take care... i'll keep on shifting at 6k and suing any sob that is trying to steel my mopar fun money..

jim coster, esquire
pittsburgh
ako ... jimharvard