Legal Question in Consumer Law in Nevada

Consumer being neglected!

Hi,

As a consumer, do I have any rights when being taken to small claims court by a car dealership, when everything is their mistakes?

I decided to get a new lease on a car with the same dealership and by doing so they gave me a rebate on the car. A week later I received a check for $450.00 which I deposited into my bank thinking it was part of the rebate or a overpayment. The check wasn't accompanied by any letter telling what the check was for. Then the dealership called eight weeks later and said that the check was suppose to be for them, not for me. So I called the credit company and they said that they we're just following what the forms said, which it said to make the check out to the customer. Then the credit company and I called the dealership and they said they made a mistake and accidently checked the wrong box. I received a copy of the forms, but never receive a copy of the check, which I was told would be sent out( this was 6 months ago) and still haven't received one. So now the car dealership is taking me to small claims court, and I was wondering if I have any rights as customer or will the dealership win this one?


Asked on 3/25/02, 4:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Paul Malikowski Malikowski Law Offices, Ltd.

Re: Consumer being neglected!

It sounds like you win. The dealer claims it made a mistake in your written contract, checking the wrong box, so that you got the rebate, which was made out to you by the credit company. If the dealer wants to pursue a legal claim to reform the contract; that is, to make the contract read what it claims it should, it cannot proceed in Small Claims Court. It has to proceed in District Court, because Small Claims is for the recovery of money only, not to rewrite written instruments.

The Nevada Legislature has developed a great basic research site covering all of the statutes and administrative regulations, including references to Nevada Supreme

Court decisions related thereto, available at:

http://www.leg.state.nv.us

You may want to look into the chapters on Small Claims on this site. In this regard, I invite your attention to NRS Chapter 73, which is found at:

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-073.html

There may be other laws affecting your ability to resolve a reformation of instruments problem, which is necessarily beyond the scope of this reply.

I charge $200.00 per hour for consultation, document review, case analysis, advice, suggesting and recommending alternatives, legal drafting, telephone calls, legal

research and prosecuting or defending contract actions when a client hires me.

The Nevada State Bar provides this general information online regarding lawyer fees:

http://www.nvbar.org/publicServices/pamphlets/LawyersCharge.pdf

If I do not hear back from you by Friday, March 29, 2002, I will assume that you have answered your questions to your own satisfaction, hired another lawyer, or

decided against pursuing the matter.

I hope this is of assistance to you.

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Answered on 3/26/02, 1:13 am


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