Can I Sue for Loss of Use of a Vehicle when It Was Stolen

[Mermaidgirl]

My question involves personal property located in the State of: Florida

My husband and I own a small construction business and he has a truck for his work. A few months ago, he started working with a new helper that contacted him via Craigslist. In April, the truck had some sort of issue with a leak and overheated on the way to a job site. The helper said he knew a lot about cars and that it shouldn't be driven anymore until it was looked at. He also said he would diagnose it for free, estimating it was a small repair less than $200. He said he would have his friend tow the truck back to his father's house where his tools were and would look at it. My husband agreed and had someone else take him to the job site while the helper waited for the tow truck. My husband didn't get the name of the towing company or the address of the helper's father. This was on April 14.

For the next week and a half, my husband and the helper worked on jobs with the helper supposedly taking apart the engine in his spare time. The last time they worked together was April 25, and the helper was still taking apart the engine.

All communication then stopped until May 6, when we finally got ahold of the helper. He said that he had finally finished the diagnosis and that the repairs would cost $500. We told him we would not have the money for a while and asked for the address to come and get the truck. He said he would call us back later that day but did not. After two more days of him ignoring our attempts to reach him and get the address, we contacted the police. The police said they could not do anything as they considered it a civil matter because my husband gave permission for the truck to be towed. On May 8, we reported the truck as stolen with our insurance company who said it would take 30-60 days to be resolved.

My question is first, can we sue the helper for the loss of use of the truck for the time we asked to get it (May 6) until the time either our insurance company reimburses us or he finally gives it back? My husband has been unable to get much work without his truck as he needs it for hauling things and there were also a lot of tools in the truck which he needed for most jobs anyways.

Second, what value would we give for the loss? Home Depot and other companies rent out pickup trucks daily, could we use their prices to estimate a value?

[Mr. Knowitall]

The police said they could not do anything as they considered it a civil matter because my husband gave permission for the truck to be towed.

Are the police willing to contact this person and help you locate the vehicle? You can try talking to a supervisor about the situation, as there are criminal charges (conversion, larceny by trick and the like) that can apply when a person gets possession of property either lawfully or through deception and then attempts to keep it.

On May 8, we reported the truck as stolen with our insurance company who said it would take 30-60 days to be resolved.

At this point they may end up drawing the same conclusion as the police - that the truck is not stolen - so I would not simply sit back and wait for their decision.

My question is first, can we sue the helper for the loss of use of the truck for the time we asked to get it (May 6) until the time either our insurance company reimburses us or he finally gives it back?

You may be able to make a claim for the cost of whatever vehicle you've been renting since that date, or subsequent to when you arguably would have repaired it, but you can't just make up an number and claim it as damages - there has to be a connection to reality, and your husband has a duty to mitigate his damages.

You know the truck isn't working, and wouldn't be working had it been returned to you on May 6, and you state that you weren't able as of that date to pay for the repairs necessary to make the truck work - it's not clear if or when you would have repaired the truck had you recovered it on that date.

My husband has been unable to get much work without his truck as he needs it for hauling things and there were also a lot of tools in the truck which he needed for most jobs anyways.

Why would he have left his tools in the truck?

Again, he has a duty to mitigate his damages. He can borrow, rent, or even buy a replacement vehicle in order to get to job sites. Also, as previously indicated, if he can't afford to repair the truck he would be no better served by having a non-working vehicle parked in his driveway than he is by having the same broken-down vehicle parked at some other location.

Second, what value would we give for the loss? Home Depot and other companies rent out pickup trucks daily, could we use their prices to estimate a value?

As of the date he would have had the repairs completed, if your husband has receipts that show he has incurred rental costs for the use of alternate vehicles, he can try to argue that he should be able to recover those costs. He can't randomly pick the most expensive option, pretend he would have rented a vehicle every day when he neither did rent a vehicle nor would have incurred that much expense to do so, and pretend it's fair compensation.

But more to the point, it sounds like this "helper" is a deadbeat and even if your husband gets a judgment that he very little chance of collecting any money.

[Mermaidgirl]

Could you be more specific as to the other crimes? The police officer that came out basically told us we're SOL because he gave him the keys and it wouldn't be considered theft to them.