Trying to help a friend out
 

Hey guys Im trying to help out a good friend of mine and would appreciate any experience with similar cases or if you have anyone you could suggest that might be able to help him.

Basically he was doing a massive project with his car and had some friends from Toronto helping him out. Over many months they came down to help him install parts but some were being kept at one of his "friends" house in Toronto until they needed them.

He has reciepts and proof of purchase for all the parts, but his "friend" is denying that he has them and has since moved to Vancouver.

My friend knows that the parts were being kept at that friends parents house but the parents are denying and refusing entry.

He spoke with the police about the situation and the sum of their response was that if he went back to the house he would be charged with harrassment and trespassing!!

What can my friend do to get these useless police officers to at least investigate the house?!

It is of course possible that the parts have been privately sold but is their nothing he can do against the original theft either?


I would really appreciate any input from you guys, I know you would hate to have thousands of dollars worth of parts stolen by a friend you thought you trusted :(

wow...really? "parents are denying"...got the family in this too...story getting messy...

hopefully things will turn out smoothly...

I'll tell you what I'd do , it might not get his parts back but it might pay off in the long term IMO. I don't think the cops will help out , they will see it as a civil matter rather than criminal, but I guess he can keep pursuing it with the Police if he wants but my guess is he is pissing in the wind with the cops.

I would file an application in small claims court. Chances are the guy won't come back from BC to attend a small claims hearing and your friend has a good chance of getting a judgment against the jerk. In fact if he doesn't reply to the application you will get a default judgment without even having to go to court, that happens quite often. Someday in the future that jerk is going to get a real life and a real job and he will apply for a mortgage or a car loan, and at that point he will be required to pay off your friend's judgment before he can get a loan or mortgage. If you don't know where he currently lives have it sent to his last known address - parents' home.

It doesn't cost much to do this, and sometimes just the threat of being sued might wake the guy up, and maybe his parents will grow a set and make the kid pay off the debt before it goes to court. I think the limit in small claims is $10,000, you don't need a lawyer and all the forms are available from any courthouse. It is very easy to do and you get instructions along with the form. I've done this dozens of times, with good success.

The last time I did it was a few years ago, some prick (friend of the family) convinced my in-laws to co-sign a furniture loan for him, he got the furniture and never made payments on it and my in-laws got stuck paying off the debt. When the debt went into default my father in law was unemployed and barely able to make ends meet, while the jerk who took advantage of them had a house full of furniture and was fully employed making good money with a stable job. I sued that prick in small claims for my in-laws, and we garnished his wages. We got every penny back plus a good bit of interest (pre-judgment and post judgment) and all of our court costs and garnishment costs. I got a lot of satisfaction doing that one for my in-laws who weren't well versed in the english language or the court system.

The burden of proof in small claims isn't very high, and many times the defendant doesn't even reply or show up to court and you can get default judgment against him/her very easily. You don't need a lawyer to do any of this. This could pay off very quickly or it may take a few years to get the money back, but it is worth every effort and every penny doing it. You'll get some satisfaction out of the process if successful.

^

That is amazing advice! Thank you so much, I will let him know asap.

If anyone else has any other input please continue to share.

Thanks!

-Brad