She buys the car.
You claim it was a lemon.
Correct.
You didn't even provide us with a bill of sale.
I trusted him.
You thought it was a good idea
to give him a stack of cash
without asking for a receipt.
Yeah.
You know about cars 'cause you buy and sell 'em.
Doesn't make me an expert.
It doesn't make you the idiot you want us to believe you are either.
[announcer] Now on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Santa Ana, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 2065 on the calendar,
in the matter of Toledo versus Greenhalgh.
- Thank you, Byrd. - You're welcome, Judge.
Parties have been sworn in.
You may be seated.
[Judge Acker] Ms. Toledo,
you purchased a 2007 Chevy Avalanche from the defendant.
You spent $9,000 on the car.
You claim it was a lemon.
So you're now suing him for the return of that money.
But on top of that,
you also want him to compensate you $500,
which is what you paid a mechanic
to diagnose the various problems with the car.
Mr. Greenhalgh has come to court
with a defense that has saved
many a used car salesperson before.
He says you bought the car as is,
and you are entitled to nothing.
How did you find the car, ma'am?
On Facebook Marketplace, and I've bought used cars before,
so I know what to look for,
and this car didn't have any red flags
and nothing that made me distrust him.
- [Judge Acker] Let me ask you. - [Paola] Yeah.
You said that you've purchased used cars before.
- Yeah. - How many times?
- Five. - [Judge Acker] About five times?
- Yeah. - [Judge Acker] Tell me what happened.
So he told me everything was working fine,
that the reason he wanted to get rid of it
was because, uh, his wife had trouble getting on the car.
It's a lifted truck. That's...
[Judge Acker] There we go, there's the car.
[Eric] Yeah, well, it doesn't look like that when I sold it to her.
That's when I had the truck before I did the lift.
I had the before picture of the truck
being lifted and the lifted version.
And I'm not 30 years old anymore.
I was living my youth
and I went way too tall, scared my wife.
[Judge Acker] Ms. Toledo,
when I looked at the Blue Book value of this car,
it was valued at only about 5,000,
- give or take. - Yeah.
[Judge Acker] You agreed to buy this car for $9,000.
Now, tell me what sort of research
or investigation you did before you said,
"Hey, here's nine grand. I want the car."
Yeah. So I ran a CARFAX.
Uh, the CARFAX value, it was valued at 12,000.
He also mentioned that he had done a bunch of recent work to it.
The CARFAX did not mention anything about engine transmission repairs.
It only had like smog, maintenance records,
but nothing that, to me, would have raised a red flag.
But some of the things that your mechanic diagnosed
were that the car had a bad transmission,
there were malfunctioning sensors.
It had a myriad of problems.
Correct. And it could all be kind of led back
to the transmission guys doing a bad job.
If you wanna pull up the pictures,
you'll see there's a lot of loose or missing bolts altogether
to the point that the car is not safe to drive.
Then on the way drive home, uh, the check engine light came on.
I picked it up as I was heading to take a one-month long trip,
but I really wanted the car,
so I wanted to get it before my trip
just to make sure that I would be the one to buy it.
But you could have taken the car to a mechanic
- before you gave him the $9,000. - We did.
[Judge Acker] But you bought the car and then you were like,
"Okay, I'm going to Mexico for about a month."
- Yeah. - So you don't hear anything from her
until about 30 days have passed.
I had heard from her like two weeks to 30 days later,
I can't remember the exact amount of days
saying, "Hey, the transmission's bad."
And I even called the guys
that did the transmission, told them what's going on.
They said, "Bring it up to us. We'll cover it under warranty."
The vehicle's transmission is still under warranty.
I totally explained that to her.
She's like, "I don't care."
You know, why would somebody who engaged
in a used car transaction contemplate that?
I mean, up to this point, it seems like he's been very accommodating.
Yeah. And I can see where he's coming from in that sense.
Um, but we did notice
the check engine light, if you see the report,
it was two days after we picked it up.
I just really didn't have...
[Judge Acker] Fair enough. I will give you all of that.
But as somebody who has a lot of experience buying used cars
you know to take a car to a mechanic,
especially when it's a 2007 car that someone's done work on.
Yeah. I can agree with that.
I was kind of in a rush to try to purchase it, again, before my trip,
and it's not something that I could control.
I got permission to see my mom.
After 10 years of not being able to see her,
and I wasn't gonna postpone that
to take care of this issue that came up.
- [Judge Acker] What happened... - This is a once in a lifetime...
- ... to your mother? - ... opportunity that...
What happened to your mother, dear?
She got deported 10 years ago.
And I help take care of my younger siblings,
and I finally got permission to see my parents.
So of course, I was gonna take that trip.
That though was a hurry that you were in.
Now, was he hurrying you or pressuring you in any way?
Well, he did say that there were several people
that were looking at the car
and that it might be sold soon, and all this stuff.
And, you know, again, I...
[Judge Acker] Salesperson tactics.
And you felt pressured by that.
Yeah. And, you know, like I felt like if I didn't get it then,
I wouldn't find a good deal ever, like a good deal like that.
That truck was perfect.
You know, it looked in good condition.
We test drove it, didn't really like get a feel of any issues.
- [Judge Acker] Mr. Greenhalgh. - Yes, ma'am.
- You have one problem. - [Eric] Okay.
And you know what that problem is.
The smog check, I'm not familiar
totally with the laws out here in California.
I know I got a smog check done on the truck
and it's supposed to last two years.
If I sell it to somebody, it only has...
It's only good for 90 days.
Ninety days. So I wasn't totally aware of that.
The vehicle would pass smog,
- no problem or issues... - No, it wouldn't.
- Sorry. Sorry. - Excuse me. Stop.
... if the check engine light wasn't on.
- But this... - [Judge Acker] But you know
that under the laws of this jurisdiction,
the deal could be thrown out the window.
Now, you had a smog certificate
- that was issued in April. - Okay.
[Judge Acker] And when did she purchase the car?
- When did you purchase the car? - August 18th.
So the smog certificate is in the glove compartment.
It's not as if you're trying to conceal it, correct?
- No. - [Judge Acker] You just weren't aware
that you were beyond the 90 days, not even by a month.
- I honestly... - [Judge Acker] April 20th,
May 20th, June 20th, July 20th,
- she buys the car August 18th? - Correct.
[Judge Acker] So you're just about a month late.
- Right. - [Judge Acker] And you didn't know
- until she raised this with you. - Right.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
- Understand. - [Judge Acker] But, ma'am,
you kind of didn't do all you were supposed to do.
- Judge DiMango? - Something about you, ma'am,
doesn't sit right with me.
[laughs] What is that?
- [Judge DiMango] Excuse me? - I said, what is that?
Everything.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You would have known
that your wife would not have been thrilled
to take what otherwise was a nice-looking vehicle,
nice and low to the ground, and jack it up five inches.
But you did it anyway. Why?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Paola Toledo is suing Eric Greenhalgh for $9,500,
claiming Eric sold her an unsafe truck with lots of issues.
But Eric says he did not misrepresent anything
and that Paola bought the truck as is.
Judge Acker pointed this out with you,
you know, about the smog test.
And I kinda feel you're kinda credible on this issue because you know why?
Because you can waive a smog test.
So when you've gotten cars before and then you said,
"Oh, I've looked in the glove compartment
only to find out that the smog had expired,"
if you don't make a big deal of it, you don't make a big deal of it.
You just go down and you get a smog test for it.
And sometimes, like in a case like this
perhaps where it's only one month past the date,
I doubt that something happened with regard to the smog issues.
Um, obviously once again,
you know about cars 'cause you buy and sell 'em.
Doesn't make me an expert, like I know...
[Judge DiMango] I didn't say you were an expert.
- Okay. Well, I know what to look for. - [Judge DiMango] I said you know.
It doesn't make you the idiot you want us to believe you are either.
You've bought and sold five cars,
and you don't know to ask about a smog test?
Well, I just believe that it was valid.
- Like he said it's smogged, so... - No, you're too smart for that.
Come on, you're a smart cookie.
This is--that's what's bothering me about you.
When did you leave, by the way, to go to Mexico to see your family?
[Paola] I picked up the car Friday.
I was already driving down from Central Coast to, like, the border.
- And I pretty much... - [Judge DiMango] You drove?
Did you drive this vehicle?
No, I left it parked and then...
Where did you leave it parked?
Um, in Vista.
Come on, you know where it was parked.
What's taking you so long to think of it?
No, yeah. Vista. I was trying to remember.
[Judge DiMango] Vista. What's in Vista?
Um, that's where my cousin's house is so she said I could park the car there
until my girlfriend came back.
So you get the car and you drive from him to Vista.
Yeah. To Vista because it was on the way to Mexico.
I left the car there. I wasn't gonna take the truck to Mexico.
[Judge DiMango] So you testified in here
that in two days that light came on, you said.
- Yeah. - [Judge DiMango] But you didn't have
the car for two days.
You drove it right to your cousin's house according to you.
- But... - [Judge DiMango] But yet in your papers,
you say, "As I was driving the car home,
- the check engine light came on. - Well, it was my girlfriend that...
[Judge DiMango] So what's your version?
See, what I really think happened?
I think you drove the car to Mexico,
and that's why you didn't get in touch with him for 30 days.
That's why you didn't make any phone calls 'cause you took this.
And then when you--check engine lights went on and you had these issues,
when you came back, you reached out to him
because you had his phone number, didn't you?
[Paola] Yeah. And I didn't know if it was serious or not.
Everything you're saying to me rings flat.
I mean, I can show you my flight that I took from Mexico
that shows I didn't have a car with me, like, I flew out.
When was that flight?
[Paola] The flight? [sighs]
- You have that with you? - I have to check. Yeah, I can check.
[Judge DiMango] You can send that to me.
- No, yeah. I can check. - [Judge DiMango] Yeah, I wanna know.
And wait, wait, before you do that,
when did you say you went down to Mexico?
Um, it was like mid-August.
What was the date you went to see your mom?
I mean, that date would kinda stick in your head.
- Yeah, it was, uh, 20th. - [Judge DiMango] Was it the 20th?
Yeah, and then I stayed there for a month, around the 20th.
So now we're not sure you stayed there for a month.
- [Paola] Well [indistinct] at me... - So was it the 20th
- or it wasn't the 20th? - [Paola] ... it doesn't make me a liar.
- Was it the--yes, I'm calling you a liar. - Okay.
Is it the 20th or not the 20th?
I don't know. I'd have to check.
[Judge DiMango] You don't know when you went to see your mom.
- No. - This thing you've been waiting to do
for 10 years, you're crying in this courtroom...
- [Paola] Yeah. - And you don't know
what day you went to see your mother.
- You don't know the date your flight was. - No.
[Judge DiMango] When did she buy the car from you?
The 18th.
- 18th of August? - [Eric] Yes, ma'am.
I even offered to help her with that.
I said, "If you don't want the truck, bring it back.
Give me the title, I'll sell it and give you your money back."
- I even tried doing that. - You never said that.
- Yes, I did. - [Judge DiMango] Don't worry,
don't talk to each other. Just find the ticket.
[Paola] Oh, it's right here.
So I booked several flights.
Uh, that's one of them.
You went to Tijuana on the 28th of August,
so you were eight days out.
You went to Mexico City on the 28th of August.
I don't see where you went to see your mother on the 20th of August here.
You don't have it.
Thank you, you can give it back.
- This actually makes it worse... - I can--I can make...
... because now you're trying to give me false evidence.
I can show you a video of me.
Do you really think that I believe anything?
"I can show you a video of you," big deal.
Big deal because we don't...
Well, I'm just trying to give you more evidence.
Please, please stop. Stop moving your mouth
so that I stop hearing lies.
Okay.
Ms. Toledo, you definitely put the cart before the horse.
You buy the car,
- then you get it inspected, right? - Yeah.
[Judge Levy] And you know one of the only ways
that you'll be able to unwind this sale
is if you can prove that it was induced
by some type of false representation.
Yeah.
[Judge Levy] Good. So show me the advertisement,
so I know exactly what it was
that was represented to you.
I couldn't pull it up anymore.
It said it had been deleted.
You know what? Why don't you tell me what you claim it is.
I'm gonna ask him if that's what it was.
And if you both agree, you both agree. And if you don't, I ignore it.
What was the representation?
That it was four-by-four lifted, um...
that he was willing to trade for another car.
[Judge Levy] Did he tell you what the mileage was?
It was like, I think, 120.
[Judge Levy] Would you accept that?
- Yes, sir. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
So he made no other representations
about anything else on that vehicle
that would have induced you
to purchase it without first getting it inspected.
Well, he said everything was working.
That's his opinion.
That's not something that if it turns out to be false,
that you can use to unravel the sale.
- So you didn't provide us with the ad. - [Paola] Uh-hmm.
You didn't even provide us with a bill of sale.
I didn't get one.
Why not?
I trusted him and he had just signed over the title,
giving me all the paperwork
and I just kinda took it like that.
[Judge Levy] All right. So you claim at least in your complaint
that you gave him cash.
So where did you get all the cash for this deal?
I wanted it so bad that I, uh,
liquidated my credit cards.
You liquidated your credit cards?
- Yeah. Um, so it was... - You mean cash advance?
You got cash advances on your credit cards?
Yeah.
Well, don't they still offer like in credit cards, they give you checks?
They say, "You can use these checks, use them as cash"?
- Hmm, not that I know of. - [Judge Levy] They don't do that anymore?
- Boy. - How old are you, Adam?
I'm like 90.
[laughter]
They do.
Yeah, they do, right? Yeah.
- Thank you, Cassandra. - Okay.
[Judge Levy] You know, it would seem to me, Ms. Toledo,
listen, I sympathize with you.
I remember when I sold my Acura Integra
in 1996.
And I remember what I did when I sold it.
Took it in for servicing,
had the whole thing detailed, beautiful.
Had a whole report set up. That's how I wanted to sell it.
I wanted to make sure the person I sold it to
got exactly what they were bargaining for, which was a pristine car.
Most people aren't like that. It's unfortunate.
You've been dealing with used cars
for at least five occasions. You knew that.
And you come in here and you have this huge burden
and you don't provide us with any proof of the very basics, nothing.
You don't know the man from a hole in the wall
and you're willing to give him,
- how many thousands in cash? - 9,000.
[Judge Levy] To a man that you never met before.
And so that's one of the reasons why I think
that we're all questioning the accuracy
and veracity of what you're saying.
Now having said that, Mr. Greenhalgh?
- Yes, sir. - [Judge Levy] Tell me about this car.
You know, you tell me about your wife
and why you wanted to sell it.
It would just seem to me that you would have known
that your wife would not have been thrilled
to take what otherwise was a nice-looking vehicle,
nice and low to the ground and jack it up five inches.
You know your wife, you know she's not gonna wanna jump into that vehicle,
but you did it anyway.
Why?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You indicated that you offered to take it back,
you would sell it,
and give her her money.
- Yeah. - Is that still on the table?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Paola Toledo is suing Eric Greenhalgh
for $9,500.
Paola claims Eric sold her a truck
that's unsafe and full of issues.
But Eric claims Paola bought the truck as is
and refused to take advantage of the truck's warranty.
You would have known that your wife would not have been thrilled
to take what otherwise was a nice-looking vehicle,
nice and low to the ground and jack it up five inches.
You know your wife, you know she's not gonna wanna jump into that vehicle,
but you did it anyway.
Why?
Actually, I've only been married to her for one year,
and she just came over from Vietnam.
- So it's not like I know... - Oh.
I had--I had--I had the longest relationship with her for three years.
I wasn't--I wasn't prepared for that answer
- I'm going to accept it at face value. - [Judge DiMango] I need the whole answer.
- [Judge Levy] It's not my answer. - [Judge Acker] She's from Vietnam.
- I mean, they've been married for a year. - Yeah.
You know what? I'm just gonna leave that...
- She came from Vietnam. - I'm just going to leave it. Yeah.
She was supposed to come over before COVID and that...
- [Judge Levy] I got it. I got it. - ... ruined everything.
Where did you get the vehicle from? When did you buy it?
I think I got it in November of the year previous.
That was actually on, funny enough,
Facebook Marketplace, I saw it.
I was looking for an Avalanche and it came out of Oregon.
They wanted 10,000 for it
and then I think that I bought it for like five grand
because they said it has some oil leaks and stuff.
I'm like, "Okay, I can get oil leaks fixed."
[Judge Levy] Do you buy cars from auctions and sell them?
- No. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
I have nothing further.
[Judge Acker] I have a couple of questions.
Mr. Greenhalgh, you indicated
that at some point that you offered to take it back,
you would sell it and give her her money.
- [Eric] Yeah. - Is that still on the table?
Right now, I don't know what they've done to the vehicle.
Again, there were so many communications between the two of you.
Did not get a whiff of him trying to conceal anything.
All of the information was available to you.
You were unhappy with the car.
And then it seems that, you know,
you found a hook maybe to hang your hat on.
And I think the question for us
is whether or not we're going to enforce that.
Because for the record,
we have the discretion
to apply the equities in this case as we see them.
So I'll discuss with my colleagues.
I don't have anything further.
[Judge DiMango] We're gonna retire to deliberate at this time.
- Thank you. - Court now stands in recess.
This case will be recalled. Parties are excused.
[dramatic musical sting]
So normally, uh, for me at least,
this would be a pretty simple case.
Seller's supposed to provide a valid smog certificate.
It has to be valid for-- within 90 days of the sale.
This one was valid about just short of being 30 days overdue.
But he didn't hide it. He didn't conceal it.
All of the information was there.
She started the case
by talking about her vast experience buying used cars.
She had every opportunity to look at the paperwork.
I'm just not sure that it is fair to him at this point
to unwind the deal.
Now in her jurisdiction,
the sale would be illegal, full stop.
We don't have to be bound by that. So I'm a bit on the fence.
We do know, however, you can waive it.
You could certainly take the vehicle and you could bring it yourself
and have it done.
And I think under the circumstances that you've just actually set forth,
the fact that she's had such a vast experience with buying and selling cars,
that I can't imagine that she didn't look in that glove compartment.
I'm going to, for my purposes based on her credibility in this courtroom,
I'm going to find that she waived it.
And I'm not willing to award her anything on her testimony.
If the car was unable to pass smog,
I would say cancel the deal,
rescind it, unwind it.
But she didn't come in here and tell us,
"I took it to get smog tested and it failed."
- That would be a different story. Right. - That's correct. Correct.
[Judge Levy] So I don't feel that strongly
about allowing that--the whole deal to be unwound,
which is why I said to her and I started off,
"Show me that the sale was induced
by some type of fraudulent misrepresentation."
- You... - She couldn't.
Right. And she couldn't even provide us with a bill of sale or a receipt.
I believe that her ability to meet her burden just fell completely flat.
And I think also if you look at some of these text messages
that her partner sent to him
and the--you know, "My brother's a mechanic,"
and, you know, they were looking for other things
to kind of saddle this defendant with,
suggesting that he had done something improper
and there's no evidence of that.
So I'm with you, I'm inclined to dismiss.
So if there could be a lesson for anyone watching,
if you're looking to unwind a deal on a used car,
- you gotta come ready for bear. - Indeed.
But there is something I wanna say.
You said you sell your cars in pristine condition?
- Uh-hmm. - Do you have any car for sale?
- No. - Oh.
[laughter]
We're unanimous.
[dramatic musical sting]
[Byrd] Court is back in session.
I remind parties, you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
We've deliberated and we have reached a unanimous verdict.
Ms. Toledo, there are things
that purchasers of cars must do,
especially when it's a used car. And you know this.
You started your case by testifying very candidly
and truthfully about your experience buying used cars.
And you know what?
We have seen many a shady used car salesperson in this court.
This is just not one of them.
He gave you everything that he had.
He concealed nothing, not the smog test, nothing.
You wanted to get rid of the car because you were finding this problem
and you were finding that problem.
And then you found the fact that his smog test
was just a few days overdue.
And because we are not bound by the laws of that jurisdiction,
we're not gonna enforce that.
We're not gonna unwind this deal.
It would be manifestly unfair.
You've had the car for months.
There's no way that we would know
whether or not we'd be returning the car to him
in the same condition in which he gave it to you.
That would be manifestly unfair.
In any event, the material and information
was available and accessible to you.
And if you had exercised ordinary and regular diligence,
you would have seen it.
So in this case, the equities
are against unwinding this deal,
and we're going to dismiss your case.
Good luck and good luck to you, sir.
[Byrd] This case has now concluded.
Parties are excused. You may step out.
[theme music plays]
Obviously you couldn't tell from just looking at it.
You had to get it lifted and then you'd be able to see
all the, like, missing bolts and issues.
Actually, I had it for, like, six to eight months,
drove it almost every day, didn't have an issue.
I guess I couldn't prove it.
She took it, all of a sudden, it's got an issue.
I tried standing up for myself and it didn't work.
It's not my fault.
[announcer] Are you being sued?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
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["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]