Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Michigan
In January we purchased a 2005 travel trailer from a private party. We found the item for sale on Craigs List. The family that owned it (Older Parents and the unit was shown to us by the married Daughter) told us that the parents had only used it a couple of times and the Father had health issue and they would no longer be able to use it. The trailer had been parked in the Daughters driveway for years. They said they had only had one problem with the unit when a roof vent cover over the queen bed broke and caused water to come in. They replaced the roof vent cover and said that no damage was done to the inside. We inspected the roof vent the queen bed mattress and frame and the ceiling and found no water damage. There is no plumbing in this area of the trailer. The unit plumbing in the other areas of the trailer had been winterized and we verified this. We purchased the unit and the sellers delivered it to our property. It was January in Michigan so everything was frozen. We covered the trailer for the rest of the winter. Three weeks ago we uncovered the unit and found the floor on both sides of the queen bed to be soft and not safe to walk on. There is still no sign of water in the unit nor any smell of moister. The floor must have been full of water and frozen in January. We think the sellers knew about this issue and did not tell us. We want to know if we can take them to Small Claims court and attempt to get compensation for replacing the floor in the damaged area of the unit. We feel they misrepresented the unit to us. A 6 year old trailer should not have this weak a floor even with normal use.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You can sue but you will need an expert witness to testify that the problem undoubtedly existed when you bought it and it was a hidden defect incapable of discovery by you. Their defense will be that you bought it "as is" and had ample opportunity to inspect. It is a difficult case but you won't get to first base without expert testimony. In small claims court, you may be able to introduce such testimony by a written letter. They are pretty loose on evidence rules. However, you may be better off just getting the floor replaced.
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