I sold a car to a friend of a friend ( I know, stupid) She was supposed to pay $2500. After we switched the titles over she said she had to go to the bank for money, then only gave me $900. She said she told her friend that was the agreement ($900 now and then monthly payments). She never talked to me about it. It was miscommunication and my fault. I’ve never sold a car before. We made up a promissory note with payments and she missed the first payment. Now she moved to another city and told her friend she wasn’t going to pay me the rest. There’s another big mistake on my part. When we switched the titles and did the bill of sale we did it with $900 as the sale price. But I do have the promissory note. Is there anything I can do?
You can sue her in small claims court (City Court or a Justice of the Peace). You can sue her here even if she has now left the state because the contract was formed here. You will have to serve her by certified mail via what is called the Louisianan Long Arm Statute. If she does not pay, you may have to go to her state to collect the Judgment, though. While you certainly can get a Judgment against her from what you have stated, you may be throwing good money after bad if she never intends to return to Louisiana.
If you do get a Judgment, you can record it and it will remain there collecting interest and ruining her credit until it is paid, though.
Adam Lambert
The Law Office of Adam S. Lambert
3531 Plymouth Pl.
New Orleans, LA 70131