Who can I contact to get a Title?

[Burt Munro]

YZFKneeDragger,

Can you send me an email or PM with more details on your frame(email is in my profile).  I'm hoping I don't have to go this route, but I want to keep my options open.

I will be at the August Blackhawk races.


Thanks!


Rick

[HAWK]

At this point you are in possesion of stolen property (assuming you have a bill of sale from Laverne).  The worst case scenerio for you right now is that the cops come and take the bike.  If you transfer the parts from Squiggys bike to a titled frame from ebay then you have made it clear to all that you knew the deal and you are now involved. The fact that Squiggy will not give you the title is a rather clear indication that unless he gets his money he plans to recover the bike.

I would start leaning hard on Laverne and be prepared to give the bike back to Squiggy.

[dylanfan53]

It's not stolen until it's reported stolen so I wouldn't worry about that yet.

Caveat...I'm not a lawyer.   But this IS the internet and we're all experts, right?

Actually, I described the scenario to a lawyer colleague that I trust.  She said that, absent other undisclosed facts and circumstances, unless there was a written contract (power of attorney, etc.) authorizing Lavern to act as agent she had no authority to sell the bike.  A verbal agreement probably doesn't hold up here since it would be a "he said, she said scenario".  Squiggy has no responsibility to turn over the title, unless there was a written contract naming Lavern as his agent to sell it.  Actually he still owns the bike and you can't get title without his agreement.  He can demand its return anytime and you have to return it in the same condition as when you received it so you should consider that before making any improvements to it.

To go back to your original question, your only legal remedy is against Lavern for the funds you paid.  Squiggy has no reason to go after her since he still owns the bike even though its in your possession.  Sorry, that's probably not what you wanted to hear.

[Protein Filled]

Well, from what I know from the story, there are a couple of things to note:

The owner of the bike most probably is not ever going to say the bike was stolen. He is just not in a rush to give Rick the title. I don't think the bike will ever be regarded as stolen property since it would take the owner calling the police to do that. I think Rick just wants to get the bike a clean title to avoid having to deal with/hassle the owner of the bike any further. In reality, Rick is not really in posession of stolen property (OK, technically you could say yes, but you know what I mean), he just has a bike that has no title. Since the bike is a racebike, he could leave it at that, but I think he would like to get a plate for it and make it streetable, hence the need for some kind of title.

What really sucks here is that Rick and the owner of the bike got screwed by the greediness and selfishness of one person who decided that it would be OK to go and spend something that was not theirs.

[The Flyer]

What's the update, did you get the title?  Lavern and Squiggy are obviously friends or closely aquainted--yes?  If so, perhaps the approach is to have a friendly chat with Squiggy and try to find out the connection Squiggy has with Lavern and whether Squiggy authorized Lavern to sell the bike and whther Squiggy got any of the money.  It may be inappropriate for me to suggest that you TAPE RECORD the conversation.   Once that information was obtained...further planning could take place.

Am I an expert in these matters, well, of course, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.