Yeah i went and had a look at this ute, the owner was an alright kinda guy, he looked after it very well, dunno about driving wise tho, he fishied up a whole street with me in it haha.

That really does suck badly for your mate tho! I would definetly confront him, explain to him face to face the loses that your mate had to pay for!
Sorry to hear man. Unbelivably built ute!

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I never mentioned 45USN having to argue that there was no contract. They can rebut but the onus is on BUL33T's friend to convince the Court.

I commend your courage that many people do not possess to speak out and question before you accept, but the law is more complex than common sense. Common sense alone does not solve a legal problem but does help to avoid them. I am not trying to outsmart anyone, but merely give some helpful advice to BUL33T and offer some options. Many people have no idea of their respective rights and obligations.

By the way, thank you for your commendation. Law is challenging but I am doing very well thanks.

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A verbal contract carries the same weight as a written one. It is just harder to prove.

What I should have included is the fact that it is up to the judge to decide who is telling the truth.

Based on the facts given to me, it would be my advice that it is very likely that this could be proved but I made a mistake before with my dog's dinner comment. Nothing in law is ever 100% but many cases such as these have been proven.

It is like the many cases involving the posting of offers and acceptances. When an acceptance is posted, it is complete upon the actual posting. Thus, when it never arrives to the seller and is lost, there is no proof of a formed contract. However, the honesty of a man is judged along with the surrounding circumstances. Who says they ever posted it? Only they know but the courts can go on this and further arrangements to complete the contract are admissible as evidence, and can be compelling. False stories are often easy to spot too.

It is the onus of the plaintiff to establish that a contract was formed. In some cases it may not be easy, but it is not impossible and any supporting evidence helps such as the arrangements.

At the end of the day it is up to the purchaser to decide whether the probabilities of success are worth it.

ps. I am not meaning to sound condescending here but law is often misunderstood and thought irrational to the layman. That is why we have lawyers don't we?

The way it was told to me, many many years ago, is that, "unless you have credible witnesses, a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's writen on." [& thats a quote]

Was my stepfather right? Well, without credible witnesses, he probably was.

Firstly Frodaddy I commend you on studying law at uni. Its a much beter career than working on cars and atleast you will make some money.
I have never studied law, so all my comments are just common sense.
Your comments seem to be trying to come across as lawyer jibba jabba. ( basically arguments that can go either way)
Example;
You say Bul33t's friend has a good case in court since there is evidence of trips made and transport organised. And 4susn would have a hard time arguing any of this.

But yet in my case with the pink elephant I would have to prove there was a contract.

So Frodaddy which is it?
In the morning I can go organise a plane ticket to NZ, I can organise a Zoo Keeper, I can organise a bag of peanuts and I can organise an old lady to shovel the elephant crap on the plane during the return trip to OZ. Arrange all that to next tuesdays date. Go to court on Thursday and walk out 35cents richer.

By your statements I could also say I gave you 35,000 dolars as a deposit instead of the 35cents.
In court you yourself would then have to prove no contract was made and no deposit was taken and I could then turn around and march straight back into court and sue you for false advertising on a pink elephant that never existed.

I recommend you keep studying law and be the best lawyer you can. But at the moment you still seem to be out of your league even up against an auto electrician.

Law isnt about just making arguing statements. Its about proving evidence to be factual. Plane tickets, a booked tow truck and phone calls ( although all real in Bul33t's case ) dont cut it as eveidence to me and I would like to see a judge to whom they did.

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Well there would be a breach of contract and maybe even misrepresentation if you could prove there was an existing binding contract. I doubt the judge would believe you though and did we have a mutually organised time for pick up, price etc?

This can easily be proved! The courts are faced with these types of contracts all of the time. There is even evidence of a trip made and transport for the car setup. This helps BUL33T's friend heaps in many ways in contract law.

I think you are out of your league here phunk. That logic you speak of is the law and it takes someone in the know to apply it as there are various mitigating factors.

I am currently studying law at uni and have done this section of contract law. It would be difficult for 45USN to argue his way out of an intention to create legal relations here as a reasonably solid agreement was had.

Frodaddy - It seems like you know heaps about this kinda thing a might have to put him in contact with you.

He should be getting back tonight, im not sure if he paid him a visit or not ......

An offer and an acceptance was definately made!!

When guys do business like this it really turns you off private sellers (the shonky ones anyway)!

Fortunately it is the minority of sellers who take on this mentallity..

Just WARN everyone cause it could happen to anyone!

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You cant prove nothing. Phone bills mean nothing.
The guy said it's good as sold. Well he didnt lie.

Oh by the way Frodaddy I am taking you to small claims court for the 35cent deposit I gave you on the Pink Elephant that you sold to me, which turned out never to exist.
By your logic I can already spend my 35cents as I have this one in the bag.

A deposit is not needed for a legal contract to be binding. If there is a sense of completeness in the contract (ie. price, pick up arrangements/date etc) then the courts can enforce a breach of contract and provide a remedy.

Phone records are not needed either. There are many cases where they are not available. One thing that must be known is when the offer and the acceptance were made. (Not a specific time but more like who made the offer and acceptance).

Caveat emptor is more relational to the situation where you would have bought the ute Coops and then not got what you paid for. (In private purchases)

If you have any further questions just ask me. There maybe further facts such as conditions etc that could be of use.

The point is that this guy would likely be dog's dinner in a court of law as you cannot back out of an agreed contract like that. All telephone, letter, fax etc contracts are as good as a written one. Once acceptance is complete, a revocation is not possible such as the phone call the night before.

Cheers
Brock