Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington
Stolen Motorhome
We allowed motorhome to be taken by consignment dealer rep. On consignment contract. Next day discovered rep and dealer, everything to be fraudulent. Reported Stolen to insurance (5 wks later StateFarm still trying to determine if this is a theft). County/StatePolice located the vehicle 19 days later being offered for sale by an individual who had purchased it from a person on a KMart parking lot. Police believed his story and did not recover vehicle but told that person he could not sell it.
Left to us to try to recover. He's in posession and refuses.
Waiting for insurance decision but what should we do now?
Believe those are all the pertinent details.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Stolen Motorhome
Your remedy is to report this entire story to Washington's department of Licensing, and then to file a civil suit agaist the consignment dealer and his agent for breach of contract, possibly fraud (though that is tough to prove) possibly negligence. If the dealer is licensed, he will care. You can ask for replevin or quantum meruit - either one or the other.
The reason the police did not recover the vehicle for you and bring it back is because of the bona fide purchaser for value rule - if the person at K-mart believed he had clear title, chances are a court will not order him to return the vehicle to you. Having been told he cannot sell it may put him on notice this is not a valid contract, hard to say.
Remember though that police are not judges, and they usually aren't lawyers, either.
Your insurance company is not going to proactively go after the vehicle for you. I hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell
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