Originally Posted by BosnianLanos

Oh My Holy GAWD. I just spent my entire lunch break reading this Thread of LEGEND. Yes, first to last post. And I will chime in with my oh-so-worthless opinion. But here it is.

No, I'm not a lawyer, but I have read me a law book or two in my day, and I must say that Joe Dono...you're SOL.

You have entered into the vague and dangerous world of what we call the "Verbal Contract". It's not written anywhere and is open to interpretation and in an open court, with even arguments, the best lawyer usual gets it, but sorry, Joe...you don't have an even argument. You have NO argument. Much less a good lawyer.

Understand the fact that you left the Celica in the care of the OP for 6 months. To the judge, this will be the deciding factor. If there were no agreement, verbal or written, then why did you do that? Furthermore, if you attempt to squeal your way out of this, the judge can subpoena your bank records, which will indicate that upon entering the verbal contract you had absolutely no means of paying for the work. If you argue that your grandfather or mother would have paid (which is a hollow argument, because if they could pay, we wouldn't be here) they will subpoena them too. If they said they would have paid, their bank records would also be brought to trial, and if they were lying (insufficient funds) they could be tried for perjury. DO NOT PUT YOUR MOTHER THROUGH THAT YOU RAT BASTARD.

Ahem. Cliff Notes, your case will not stand up in court. You have no argument. It was your own responsibility to track the progress of the car and immediately put a stop to work that you could not afford. Failure to visit is your own. Add to that a whole slew of character witnesses attesting that you are scum, and the judge will GLADY award the case to the OP.

HOWEVER, the OP is right in saying that in order to combat a mechanic's lien you have to put forth a bond equal in value to the amount of money in dispute. That means your mother would have to get a loan for $16,000 in order to even take the case to court. If you win, car and money are yours, if you lose (you'll lose, read above) the $16,000 will go to the OP and you'll get your car back good as new. The only problem is that you'll now have put your mother in debt $16,000, and she'll have to continue making payments on the Celica. Your mom could also say that you didn't have permission to touch her car, and then you could be tried for grand theft.

Originally Posted by leamangriffin04

You should seriously have a paypal account setup for donations. If everyone who has read this topic on this site alone (30,000+) gave you a dollar, you would have enough to recoup your losses. and pay legal fees, then you would have a free shop car.

Originally Posted by kaluwa