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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Unknowing Purchase of Stolen Motorcycle Parts

    I'm a bit surprised the da and detective attempted (and maybe even conspired) to commit crimes. There is no legal basis for the state to consider releasing the bike to you so those two people were attempting to do something against the law. There is absolutely no doubt the true owner has all legal rights to his bike, or whatever you argue was left of it. Depriving him of his bike would be extending the injury he already has been subjected to.

    While I understand your dilemma, sometimes in life that's the breaks.

    But why there is no sympathy for you is you knew from the very first day you dealt with this there were issues. You ignored them and continued on like you had a lawful claim to the bike. When you do that you can lose any right to claim any losses you incur. That may be the result in your situation.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Unknowing Purchase of Stolen Motorcycle Parts

    We have not hired a lawyer for small claims court at this point, nor do we plan to. I'm going in there with the documentation of condition at the time or purchase and at the time of return...as well as receipts and going after a claim to return personal property. She can keep the original parts I purchased that belong to her. I want the rest or the money for the rest....or she can sell me her portion of the bike. Either way is fine with me.

    So I plan to argue ownership of all the stuff I purchased and installed on the bike.

    From the very first day? I knew of NO ISSUES. I bought part of a bike in a basket for $50 (Fair value for what it was in the sellers eyes)...ran a VIN Check on it, then proceeded to start a project. I did my due diligence (or what I thought) before even doing anything with the basket of parts. Do you really think I had a clue the frame was previously reported stolen? I'm not a moron here...I buy, fix and sell blown up bikes ALL THE TIME. This is not the first time I have repaired a bike in a basket scenario. It was probably the worst one I ever did as far as parts being missing and such, but definitely not the first...and won't be the last. Considering I generally buy COMPLETE bikes in a basket for anywhere from $250 - $400....$50 was not an eye opener for something that was barely 20% complete.

    Implying that I knew anything about the validity of the purchase is just stupid on your part. Had I had ANY inclination it was stolen, I would have called the authorities immediately, surrendered the basket of parts to them and would have been out $50.

    The DA and Detective weren't conspiring to do anything criminal. They were trying to find a legal basis to release the bike to me....they failed to find that legal basis, so they released it to the original owners. Neither of them, nor anyone else in the department has EVER come across a scenario like this one, so they were making sure they did everything they could here because it's painfully obvious the bike (in it's current state) has more of my personal property on it than it did when I purchased it.

    If I'm out $2,300, then I'm out $2,300. It will be an expensive lesson, but there is no way in hell I'm going to let the original owner get a pass here and not fight.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Unknowing Purchase of Stolen Motorcycle Parts

    Yes, you were aware of problems. A bike advertised as a 65 was in reality was an 85. How many bikes have you owned? Ever not know what each of them were? It's really hard to buy parts unless you know at least that much.


    And the da and detective both knew there was no way to release the true owners property to you so if they did anything more than ask the owner of they would give it up to you, yes, they were falling across the line where legal and illegal meet.

    As to the fair value being $50 to the seller: since it was a stolen bike (no idea if they knew it was or not) it isn't possible to determine if that was a true value or some thief dumping a stolen bike for $50 which was $50 more than he spent on it.


    as to the cop and da never running across anything like this; you must come from an area with absolutely no crime. That is a very common scenario.


    Glad you can live with the $2300 loss since that is what it may come to.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Unknowing Purchase of Stolen Motorcycle Parts

    Quote Quoting jk
    View Post
    I'm a bit surprised the da and detective attempted (and maybe even conspired) to commit crimes. There is no legal basis for the state to consider releasing the bike to you so those two people were attempting to do something against the law.
    It sounds like they understandably wanted to help the OP avoid a financial loss, but at the end of their review they determined that they were unable to offer any such assistance and had to return the motorcycle to its owner in 'repaired' condition.
    Quote Quoting MotoGod
    View Post
    We have not hired a lawyer for small claims court at this point, nor do we plan to.
    You claim that you spoke with a lawyer, and that your lawyer advised you that you had a good chance of prevailing. You should pose follow-up questions to your lawyer: "What legal theory should we present in court, that will allow us to prevail" and, if the answer is "Unjust enrichment", "How can we prove unjust enrichment when the owner of the motorcycle did not know either that we had his motorcycle or that we were performing repairs upon it?" If your lawyer proposes another theory, tell us what it is and we can help you determine the elements of that theory such that you will know what you need to prove in court.
    Quote Quoting MotoGod
    I'm going in there with the documentation of condition at the time or purchase and at the time of return...as well as receipts and going after a claim to return personal property. She can keep the original parts I purchased that belong to her. I want the rest or the money for the rest....or she can sell me her portion of the bike. Either way is fine with me.
    We get that you want money for the parts you installed. We understand why you want money for the parts you installed. Not all of us are unsympathetic to your position. But the gulf you must nonetheless cross is how you can prove that you are legally entitled to any compensation for the parts you installed. As you have been told, and shown through case law from your state, merely having repaired somebody else's motorcycle is not of itself enough to legally entitle you to compensation.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Unknowing Purchase of Stolen Motorcycle Parts

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    It sounds like they understandably wanted to help the OP avoid a financial loss, but at the end of their review they determined that they were unable to offer any such assistance and had to return the motorcycle to its owner in 'repaired' condition.

    You claim that you spoke with a lawyer, and that your lawyer advised you that you had a good chance of prevailing. You should pose follow-up questions to your lawyer: "What legal theory should we present in court, that will allow us to prevail" and, if the answer is "Unjust enrichment", "How can we prove unjust enrichment when the owner of the motorcycle did not know either that we had his motorcycle or that we were performing repairs upon it?" If your lawyer proposes another theory, tell us what it is and we can help you determine the elements of that theory such that you will know what you need to prove in court.

    We get that you want money for the parts you installed. We understand why you want money for the parts you installed. Not all of us are unsympathetic to your position. But the gulf you must nonetheless cross is how you can prove that you are legally entitled to any compensation for the parts you installed. As you have been told, and shown through case law from your state, merely having repaired somebody else's motorcycle is not of itself enough to legally entitle you to compensation.
    Understood and appreciated. Still working out the answer to some of those things for sure. :-)

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