Can I sue an auto body shop?
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Can I sue an auto body shop?
I dropped off a project car 1966 chevelle to body shop to have body work done and paint job. Owner came to my house for consultation and agreed to take my car to his shop. I paid a deposit of $3000 with the final project costing approximately $8000. After a little over a year he tells me he can no longer deliver what he promised because the car was too bad of shape even though he saw the car prior to beginning project. Owner has done minimal work on the car all he said he could do was cover it up and told me to sell it. Now he wants to keep the entire deposit and I get an incomplete car that I have to out back together. He has been hard to get a hold of during this project and doesn’t return calls for months. Just recently I asked to send pics of the car to see what stage the car is in and he can’t even do that. Do I have a case?
Asked on December 9, 2017 under Business Law, California
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
You can sue the auto body shop for breach of contract. Your damages (monetary compensation you are seeking in your lawsuit) would be the return of your deposit. Upon prevailing in the case, you can also recover court costs which include the court filing fee and process server fee.
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