Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Virginia

The difficulty with your question (your situation) is that presumably the dealer had nothing to do with the wrongdoing, and probably knew nothing about it.

On the other hand, you probably do not know who the previous owner was. So suing the owner who actually is responsible is difficult because you don't know who it is.

First, I would suggest trying to get the dealer's cooperation or a CAR FAX history. If you can find out who the previous owner(s) was / were, then sue them for the damages.

Second, I would suggest (failing the first) that you sue the dealer, primarily for RECISSION of the sale.

Normally, you would have to show some FAULT on the part of the dealer (or anyone). Were they negligent, for example? Did they deliberatly take an action?

I don't think you can say that they were negligent. It is not part of the normal duties of a dealer to look inside hidding compartments for hidden drugs. I doubt they put the drugs there intentionally.

But I think you COULD sue them for recission of the contract as "mutual mistake" -- that neither one of you thought that they were selling and you were buying a drug-filled smuggling-mobile. There may also be other grounds for a lawsuit, as well, but that is what comes to mind at the moment.

During that lawsuit, the dealer would then seek to point the finger at the previous owner(s), which is exactly what you want, because your claim is even stronger against the people who actually put hte drugs in the car. You would want to find out who the previous owners are.

To make your situation even worse, the owner immediately before the dealer probably knew nothing about the drugs. They would not have sold the car to the dealer if they knew there were drugs in it. They would either have sold them (if criminally-minded) or removed them simply to avoid getting in trouble.

So it is probably 2 or more owners back, before the dealer, where someone stashed the drugs in the car.