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Sun 28 Mar, 2004 11:04 am
This happened a couple of years ago, but for some reason it has always bothered me. What do you think?
About 5 years ago, I sold my motorcycle to an individual. One night about 3 years ago, I received a phone call from the local police. They said my motorcycle had been parked on a residential sidewalk (about 5 miles from me) for several days and if I didn't move it, it would be towed. I told them I had the motorcycle, but sold it 2 years earlier. I also stated that if it was still listed in MY name, and it was abandoned, I wanted it back before it went to city auction. He argued with me that it was not mine anymore to claim. Anyway, the next day, or so, I went to the pound and there it was. I signed for it and paid $100 pound fee, and trailered it home. The policeman called me back the next day. He said the bike was no longer mine, and I had no right to sign for it. IF I did not allow him to come get it, he would get a search warrant, everybody in my house would be responsible, and I would be handcuffed and taken to jail for having stolen property. REMEMBER, IT WAS STILL IN MY NAME. Since he put it that way, I allowed him to come get it. The sad thing is that, as far as I know, the motorcycle is still sitting outside at that pound just rotting away. It never went to the owner, or the auction. WHAT A WAIST! Was the policeman correct that I legally had no right to sign for it, even though I was still legally listed as the owner?
If your story is accurate in every way, the bike is still yours officially since the new owner had obviously neglected to tranfer the ownership papers. However if the purchaser could (and wished to) produce the bill of sale, showing you had legally sold the vehicle to him/her, s/he would demonstrate 'ownership'' and could charge you with theft.
Your main problem, and something that all vendors should protect themselves from, is that when the official registration is not changed, you are still responsible for any damage/harm done by the vehicle, and could be sued for damages, in spite of the fact that there is a new owner; all they are liable for is whatever fine ensues from not having the bike properly registered.
You should 'hope' the bike is still rotting in the pound!
Yes, you should get counsel or have gottten counsel, as then you could give them all of the facts. Not that you've held everything back here but a retained attorney would ask a lot more questions than we would.
Now, you sold your bike and presumably received payment for it. However, title was not transferred through official channels, due to a failure on either your part or the buyer's. Was the bike still yours, or the buyer's? Probably the buyer's; that would be my argument. Assuming the sale was for $500 or more, the Uniform Commercial Code applies. The UCC is the law in 49 states and DC, and parts of it apply in Louisiana. So chances are very, very good that it applies if you're in the US.
See Article 2 (here's a website with the UCC's full text, articles 1 - 9):
http://reactor-core.org/ucc.html#article2 and in particular look at offer and acceptance and consideration.
This was a beautiful $7,000 motorcycle. I guess that is one of the reasons it bothered me so much.
You sold it and got paid for it, right? It is no longer yours. Morally if not legally. The buyer didn't do what he/she shold have done to transfer title but that doesn't give you any right, in my opinion, to keep the money you got and get the bike back.
It seems to me that your best course of action is to
press for this abandoned bike to be brought up for auction. If you submit the best bid, cool. You shouldn't get it for nothing.
Right you are, jespah! Transferring the vehicle title is simply an administrative act; it is not the same thing as transferring ownership, which is what happened when realjohnboy sold it and received money for it.
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