Registered Owner is Not the Legal Owner

[truso45]

My question involves vehicle registration or title in the state of: CA.
I purchased a vehicel from a person who is the registered owner and not the legal owner, so now I don't have the title.
Both party's states that the registered owner won the car in a law suit, but he still has a balance with the legal owner.
Did he sale me the car illegally? and what can I do??

[cdwjava]

Who are "both parties?" If both the registered and legal owners agree, then it should be little problem to get this cleared up. The legal owner can sign a release of title (I forget the actual name of the document, but it should be on the DMV website) and that should be sufficient to allow you to register the vehicle.

If the R/O won it in a lawsuit, then he should have the paperwork to show that he is the sole owner. He can get the title cleared up and then sign it over to you.

Or, I suppose you can go to small claims court and sue the registered owner for fraud.

[aaron]

By "legal owner" do you mean a lien holder?

[cdwjava]

The terms are interchangeable with the CA DMV.

http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr18.htm