[Mauser720]

Michael -

You have written:

"David Carroll does not dispute that the damage I discovered pre-dated my purchase. He refers me to his lawyer's opinion that he had "no duty to disclose" this damage, notwithstanding his express reassurances of mechanical perfection."

Two suggestions regarding this statement: (1) I would ask to see a copy of this opinion; and, (2) I would ask for the name and mailing address of this attorney so that you can provide him or her with a courtesy copy of all future correspondence.

Now here is a statement that has appeared in this thread which I also think is worthy of comment and/or discussion:

"......if you can't prove it you get a reverse lawsuit for slander..defamation of character ad infinitum."

It does seem that we often hear about sellers threatening lawsuits for slander; however, when was the last time any of us have any actual knowledge of such a lawsuit actually being filed, and a judgement actually being collected?

I suspect this (a dealer suing a buyer) is actually a very rare occurence.

Why?

Well, first, the seller is going to have to file the lawsuit in the state where the buyer lives. This means the expense of hiring an attorney who is a member of the bar in the state where the buyer lives. (Less of an issue if the buyer and seller live in the same state.)

Secondly, in order to collect a judgment, the seller is going to have to prove several things including but not limited to the following: (1) The buyer knew that what he was saying was not true; (2) The seller suffered some financial loss or damages as a result of the false statements made by the buyer.

Additionally, sellers know that if they do file a lawsuit against a buyer, the entire court record then becomes a matter of public record. Anyone can see exactly what the seller did and/or said. And if anyone were of a mind to do so, they could even post the entire court decision on the Internet.

So in view of this, how likely is it that any dishonest seller is actually going to follow through on the threat of a lawsuit against a buyer? And even if a dishonest seller were to do so, how likely is it that any judgement will ever be awarded?

Or to put it another way: How likely is a dishonest seller going to risk having a transaction made a matter of public record?

I'm only guessing about this; however, I suspect that dealers actually filing lawsuits against buyers is an extremely rare to perhaps even nonexistent event, in spite of all the bluffing and bluster that we hear about.

Does anyone even know about a case in which a dealer did file a lawsuit against a buyer, AND actually did collect a judgement?

Mauser720 - Ron