I have a legal question. We advertised on Craigs list about a used car and this guy who lives 2 hours away came to look at it. Before he came, he asked about the condition of the car and we sent him pictures of the paints chip off and stains on the seats. He said it was OK with him as it was just aesthetics. When he came and looked, he was angry and said that we did not mention all the things that were wrong with the car and that we should reduce the price to fair KBB value to be fair to him as he drove all the way for two hours to look at the car. We refused and he walked away madly. He has sent us an email asking to pay him $70 for gasoline or he will take us to small claims court. I don't know if this guy is a scammer or a person who is just angry and acting out of anger. My question is "can he sue us in small claims court for this"? We are planning to leave the country permanently in a couple of weeks, can this lawsuit prevent us from leaving the country or would we have to come back for the trail? I would appreciate your answer on this as this is creating undue stress on us on top of our usual "leaving and packing" stress. Thanks

Hello s:

Sure, he can sue you, but he'll NEVER win. If he tries, and you're not here to defend yourself, AND you've left the country permanently, then I wouldn't worry too much about a judgment being placed against you. Just don't use an American bank.

excon

He's probably blowing smoke. It would probably cost him half that to file. But, if your ad was deliberately misleading, he could win. On the other hand, you will probably be out of the country before he can serve you.

This is a scam... he took the risk considering a car that far away it might not be what he had in mind... and while negotiation is part of the game. Being rude and aggressive about it isn't. Sound like it's a trick he has done before, and likely succeeded at.

I'll bet he didn't even drive from as far as he claimed.

Sure he can sue you... but like has been said. WInning is another thing. And only a real tool would spend the money to file over a claimed $70.

I can drive my big old car (it weights 3,900 lbs so I'm not kidding) to Pittsburgh and back to DC on less than $70 in fuel.. and that's almost 7 hours of driving round trip.

A pending smalls claims case you haven't even been served on won't prevent you from leaving, even if you was it won't.