Can she really take me to court????

[MyMenagerie]

I had been contacted by a woman that wanted to purchase a mare from me. She seemed really nice at first. Then, once we got into the deal, she turned out to be a nightmare.... Well, long story short, she had told me she sent the downpayment last week Tuesday. I had told her I could not hold the horse for her until I received a payment. All week I held the horse & waited for the downpayment to arrive. Nothing. Finlly on Saturday she tells me she's overnighting it to me. Well, over the weekend another woman told me she'd take the mare. Told the first woman on Tuesday morning that the deal was off as someone else was taking her. Now the ***!!*** emailed me & says she's filing papers with the court because she says I'm responsible for the $350 that she'd paid the shipper. What do I do???? Rather freaked out here! New in the minis & seems like I always get the nightmares.

:

 

[lyn_j]

Did you have a contract in writing signed by both of you? If not there is nothing she can do to you. First of all she said she sent you a check a week before, then she said she was going to overnight it....... which is true? Maybe neither is the fact that she prepaid the hauler to come and get the horse. Unless you had a contract stipulating times monies were due etc she doesnt have a leg to stand on.

Just my opinion as Im not an expert.

Lyn

 

[Jill]

I would not sweat it.

She was responsible for getting the deposit to you before you could hold the horse. She didn't get it to you before someone else bought her.

My hunch is that she's trying to rile you up, and it would not even surprise if if she hadn't actually paid a shipper yet. But, if she has, that's HER problem and I doubt it could become your problem.

Additionally, the way that stuff works (I think) is she has to sue you in your area, not hers. So she'd be shipping herself to your local. I doubt doubt doubt she will follow through and feel she has no basis even if she does really sue.

 

[wc minis]

Did you ever get the down payment $$ that she overnighted? I find it odd that she would give a deposit to a shipper first before paying for the horse??? JMO, I dont think you should worry. I have only sold a few so I am not that experienced with selling yet, but to me it just sounds like she may be mad at herself because someone else beat her to it. I would have done the same thing as you.

 

[bfogg]

I had been contacted by a woman that wanted to purchase a mare from me. She seemed really nice at first. Then, once we got into the deal, she turned out to be a nightmare.... Well, long story short, she had told me she sent the downpayment last week Tuesday. I had told her I could not hold the horse for her until I received a payment. All week I held the horse & waited for the downpayment to arrive. Nothing. Finlly on Saturday she tells me she's overnighting it to me. Well, over the weekend another woman told me she'd take the mare. Told the first woman on Tuesday morning that the deal was off as someone else was taking her. Now the ***!!*** emailed me & says she's filing papers with the court because she says I'm responsible for the $350 that she'd paid the shipper. What do I do???? Rather freaked out here! New in the minis & seems like I always get the nightmares.

:

First she would have to admit she lied to you about sending you the money on tuesday, not a good way to start out a day in court, in my book.

Then that she lied to you again!

I wouldn't worry about it if I

were you.

She seems to me to be kind of a bully maybe ? and is trying to scare you. I would not want a bully to have one of my horses.

She paid a shipper to pick up a horse she had not paid for? Hmm....somethings not quite kosher in my book.

Bonnie

 

[wildoak]

Unfortunately she doesn't have to be in the right to be able to sue. Does not sound like she has any basis for a lawsuit, but the courts are full of that. At worst she may just make herself a nuisance for awhile.

Hang in there

Jan

 

[Boinky]

not an expert here but i dont' think she has much of a leg to stand on either. first off i'd NICELY ask to see her receipt for payment of shipment.. she probably wont give it to you but if it DOES go to court file a discovery to gain that peice of info. My guess is she did NOT pay a shipper before buying the horse. if she did she's stupid..secondly shipping is usually fully the responsibility of the purchaser..that is not YOUR problem..if she paid for the shipping before she paid for the horse i would think she again doesnt' have much of a leg to stand on. I'm assuming all of this took place via e-mail? If so print out all of the e-mails and highly things such as "cannot hold horse untill deposit is received". take these to court with you. if you made it clear that you wouldnt' hold the horse till the deposit was received.. there ya go..she jerked you around untill someone else bought the horse when you CLEARLY told her you could not hold the horse untill the money was in your hand..i don't think she has a leg to stand on...but as someone else said..she could certainly TRY... the money is comming out of her pocket .... if she wins the case you may have to cover the expenses (not sure) but i can't see how she really would if you have the e-mails showing your transactions and considering she paid a shipper before she even owned the horse.... i think she's just SOL personally.

 

[Becky]

I wouldn't worry about it. I just had to repo a horse that the buyer never finished paying for. She's threatened to take me to court for her vet bills on said horse. It's not going to happen.

 

[MiniHoofBeats]

I think she just sounds like a bully and Bonnie's right, even if she does take you to court she's going to start off on a bad foot by admitting that she lied to you and under the stipulation that you told her you will not hold a horse as "sold" until a deposit is received (not mailed) well, she lost out! It has happened to me numerous times and all you can do is congratulate the new owner who gave the seller the cash first! Personally, you do have the right to hold the horse whenever you want however in this case since you told this person no holding until money is in your hand, she lost out.

Don't let people get you worked up like that, a lot of people have big mouths but no feet to follow - know what I mean?

 

[MyMenagerie]

Hi All, Thank you for your support! My stomach is just sick over this

Anyhow, it was last Tuesday that she had said on the phone that she was sending the downpayment that morning. It was Saturday (4 days later) that she changed her story & stated she was sending the payment overnight. I did receive it Tuesday....a week after she stated she'd originally sent it. But I had also told her the horse would not be shipped until her check cleared (she wanted to ship it right away). When I got the check I voided it & sent it back via Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation.

There was never any contract to purchase; everything was through email or over the phone.

Also, she's in Ohio. I'm in Wisconsin.

 

[Darkstar]

You shouldn't worry at all about this. They sound like idle threats to me.

First of, if she were to sue you, it would have to be in Wisconsin. Second, if she takes the verbal agreement stance - it was part of the verbal agreement that she would not receive the horse until the check cleared the bank. You also told her that you could not reserve the horse. And Finally, you are in no way responsible for her bisiness dealings with the shipper.

It's really to bad people have to be that way.

 

[Boinky]

Honestly i think sellers have the right to back out too as long as you didn't keep her money and the horse wasn't officially hers before she allegedly paid for the shipping.. I think she's bluffing. I would try not to worry about it untill you see some sort of offical court documents that there is a court date or something. I would guess she's bluffing beause it's not cheap to file court proceedings..especially for a measly amount that it probably cost her to ship that horse .... unless she found the most expensive shipper around i can't imagine it's more than a few hundred dollars.. plus it was HER bad for paying for shipping before she officially got the horse..... I'd just call her bluff. If you speak to her again say "yep go ahead and start the court stuff"...

Look through your e-mails and see if you have the crutial stuff in them (like no hold on the horse till the deposit is received and clears ect) and then go from there!

 

[MyMenagerie]

It was for $350. Yep, I have the emails saved that state that I can't hold the horse for anyone until I have a downpayment. Also have the ones from her that state she was sending payment last week; asking where to send payment to. Only problem is, my Sent mesages folder doesn't open the emails with time & date headers like most. They open them looking like a draft. I'd have to print off the Folder view to have the dates they were sent printed.

 

[MyMenagerie]

The other thing she did was, in the ad, I'd advertised the mare as exposed to & bred by my stallion. With a LFG consiting of "should she not produce a live foal next year, she can be brought back & rebred to my stallion". I also stated that the mare was being sold with no other guarantees. All of a sudden, after several days, she emails me & tells me that she wants a refund if the mare ends up being infertile, or doesn't have a foal next year. Also said that she felt that I was responsible for any shipping costs for bringing the mare back & forth to be rebred to my stallion. It's been a nightmare right from the start.....

 

[MiniHoofBeats]

Eesh, I would have re-stated my stipulations for the sale of the mare and if the buyer doesn't like those stipulations then she doesn't need the horse. It's already generous enough to offer a re-breeding if the mare isn't in foal, most people sell a mare "exposed" and thats that - if she's not bred, oh well.

I think its a good thing you sold the mare to someone else!

 

[Suzie]

I would not sweat it. She sounds like a bully to me too. My NC lawyer said that all this stuff ends up in small claims courts and it is hard enough to get them done in one state, much less two different ones.

I would expect that the judge would take a very dim view of someone who told you they were mailing a check and then obviously didn't as they were "overnighting it" days later. Judges are not stupid either. I don't think you could in anyway be responsible for her deposit on a transport company for a horse she did not own or have a d/p on at the time.

She thinks she can bully you into giving her the horse at a great discount because of her stupidity and laziness in responding.

The biggest worry I would have over this gal is to be sure I never dealt with her again. Count yourself lucky you did not sell to her. Can you imagine how this would have played out down the line? Everything that ever happened to this horse would be your fault and she would expect compensation- 1 year or 5 years from now.....

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

The other thing she did was, in the ad, I'd advertised the mare as exposed to & bred by my stallion. With a LFG consiting of "should she not produce a live foal next year, she can be brought back & rebred to my stallion". I also stated that the mare was being sold with no other guarantees. All of a sudden, after several days, she emails me & tells me that she wants a refund if the mare ends up being infertile, or doesn't have a foal next year. Also said that she felt that I was responsible for any shipping costs for bringing the mare back & forth to be rebred to my stallion. It's been a nightmare right from the start.....

Well she can email and say anything she wants.. about a refund whatever.. if you did not respond back with an agreement to do so it means nothing. If there was no meeting of the minds so to speak be it verbally or in writing.

If however you agreed to any of that..then it is a different story

 

[Leeana]

I dont see how she could possibly do anything here? You made it clear ahead of time that you could not hold the horse until the downpayment got there and plus being that she lied in the first place i would be worried about selling to her eitherway.

This sounds ALLOT like a lady i know here on Ohio who unfortinatly tried to pull something like this on me. I would just send her an email simply stating that you were firm and informed her that until you had the downpayment you could not hold the horse if someone else speaked up and that she is making it into more then it is. Being that the shipper had not gone to pick up the horse yet either i would imagine she could get the money back IF she even paid it. Sounds like a scammer to me ...

 

[Miniv]

I agree with all the above posts........

She sounds like a scammer and a bully. And if she truly did pay a shipper -- either before or at the same time she sent a deposit, she's also stupid!

MA

 

[Jean_B]

Don't let her get your underwear in a bunch....just make sure you have saved all of the emails just in case in the VERY highly unlikely event she files. I highly doubt that she paid a shipper -- she's just trying to scam you out of the $350 which you are under NO obligation to refund even if she was stupid enough to book a shipper without a firm and complete sale.

Just shrug your shoulders, walk away and repeat after me....

Nothing is sold without a contract and nothing is sold until I have my $$ in hand.

Nothing is sold without a contract and nothing is sold until I have my $$ in hand.

Nothing is sold without a contract and nothing is sold until I have my $$ in hand.

Nothing is sold without a contract and nothing is sold until I have my $$ in hand.

And if she contacts you again...tell her you are reporting her to the District Attorney for the county where she lives. And then DO IT !! Since it sounds like you did not have a written and signed contract (shame on you...grin) then it is not a civil matter...it is a criminal matter because she is trying to scam you. If you had a contract - then it is a small claims court matter and not criminal and she would have to come to Wisconsin. Clear as mud?????