Overhaulin'

Can you sue if the owner put the item you own on a online auction?

This happened to my friend in CAlifornia and his car The previous owner and then my friend bought it from him but thn the previous owner put the car on an online auction and then my friend lost his car to the austion winner

Public Comments

1. I'm confused thw owner did it, and he was the owner?
2. If the OWNER put the car YOU own? You are suing yourself? We need a bit of clarification here I think.
3. "Can you sue if the owner put the item you own on a online auction?" What the hell kind of a question is that? Is the owner of the item the same one who's selling it? Eitehr you own it or the seller owns it.
4. How is it your friend had to give up the car if he owned it? There's something going on here that you are not telling us about.
5. This happened to a friend of mine where something stolen from his car several years ago was put on eBay. He contacted the owner, who had legitimately purchased the item and also contacted the police. The police, and my friend both chose to not lay charges for receiving stolen goods, as given the circumstances it did not seem fair, however the owner did return his property to him. The best thing to do is contact the police if it has been stolen. The police could investigate whether the seller is the person who stole, whether they purchased the car illegally etc. They could also probably organise the return of the car. Civilly you could sue but it would take time, effort and money. It may also be difficult to prove. There's a number of things you could sue for including trespass to goods, which is unauthorised touching or use of the goods belonging to another or detinue which is refusal or inability to return goods to the owner. But ultimately you will need to prove that it definitely is your friends car, the new owner is unlawfully in posession of the car (ie; did not have permission, was aware or had reckless disregard in accepting/stealing stolen property etc). Good luck!