Legal Question in Business Law in California

car purchase

My friend bought two cars from a dealership that employed his nephew who handled the deal. Each car had a $10,000 cashier's check deposited and recorded in the contract for each. By mistake, one check was left in a folder that was returned to my friend's young daughter. My friend knew nothing about this but his daughter thought it was money returned somehow in the transaction and later stupidly spent $3500 of it. Months later the dealership discovered the error and has started harrassing my friend even though he's trying to get them to accept payments. Incidentally, they had fired the nephew before discovering the error, then rehired him and told him to recover the money.


Asked on 2/12/09, 3:14 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Adam Telanoff Telanoff & Telanoff

Re: car purchase

What is your question?

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Answered on 2/13/09, 2:38 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: car purchase

How, exactly, was your friend's daughter able to negotiate a check that was made out to a car dealership?

Leaving that question aside, your friend owes the full $10,000 to the dealership. It doesn't have to accept installments. After all, the deal was already made and that deal included the full $10,000 downpayment (which would likely have been followed by additional installment payments). It does not have to alter this deal.

Your friend got the $10,000 back and should be in a position to give it to the dealership as he originally intended. The reason he can't do this is that his daughter took the money. She is the wrongdoer here, even if her actions were an innocent mistake (which I find hard to believe). The dealership does not have to give up its rights in order to accommodate her wrongs.

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Answered on 2/12/09, 3:23 pm


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