Florida Consumer Legal Questions

This case will revolve around the terms of the trip insurance and the practical ability to enforce it. You may find that you will need to retain a lawyer at an hourly rate to review this as many lawyer will not take such a case on a contingent fee unless they are sure that they will recover legal fees from the insurance carrier. As many such products arepruchased online, this is often a difficult prospect. ... Read More

The court canot order the bank to do anything, as the divorce was between you and your wife. You will need to re-fi the property to remove her from the account. As the rights to the property, this shoul dhave been dealth within the divore, so you should address this with the lawyer you hired. If you cheaped out and didn't hire a lawyer for the divorce, THIS is why you do, and now you will need to retain a lawyer to help you sort this out properly after the fact.  ... Read More

This is always the issue with home sales.....the consumer's belief that they have to make a deal. Now that you signed the agreement, you have the 3 day recission issue to comply with and you are likely boundby the written documents that you signed whatever those terms are. If you want to try to rescind the agreement and you are past the 3 day period you will need to retain a lawyer to review the records and advise you accordngly at this point. ... Read More

When your vehicle is financed, the lienholder usually requires that you maintain insurance on the vehicle to protect the value of the vehicle.  That's because, if you don't pay, the lienholder must try to get paid back by taking the car and selling it for whatever it is worth in a "commercially reasonable sale." (Usually that price is a small fraction of the amount owed on the car or its retail value).You indicated that your vehicle sustained hail damage, but you want to use the money from insurance for medical bills rather than repairs to the car.  However, the lienholder has the right to demand that the money be used to repair the car, so the car regains its value before the damage.  If the money is not used to repair the car, the lienholder has the first right to the money until the lien is paid off.So, from what you have said, it appears that the lienholder is RIGHT to refuse to endorse the check.  If you do not use the money to repair the car, then the lienholder has the right to the money, not you.... Read More

This could be a Fla. Stat. 501.201 problem but you will have to prove that the CE light would have popped on for a transmisson fault and most dont and that the CE light was present and on when you purchased it, as the dealer may lie. This simply may not be a cost effective case to pursue as a lawsuit and I suspect the dealer wont volntarily give you the money back. YOu might want to consider hirng a lawyer to send a demand letter and see if the dealer makes some accomodation but thats a judgment call. ... Read More

Just because the case was "tossed out" for the way you named the defendant does not mean that the case is over. The judge could have dismissed your complaint, and not the case. More detail as to what was filed and the order from the court is needed to determine what your next step should be. For instance, you may be able to amend your complaint to add additional parties or substitute defendants. If that is the case, then you would not have to pay an additional filing fee. Be mindful, however, the court may have given you only a short time to refile (10 through 30 days in some cases).  And the threat from the other attorney that he will seek fees and costs may be a hollow threat. Typically, in Florida, a party is only entitled to attorney's fees by contract or statute, and they must be the prevailing party before they are entitled to get the fees. Being the prevailing party can be difficult to ascertain in some cases as we do not have a "loser-pays" system. This is how big companies protect themselves from wrongdoing. They try to price injured parties out of court. Don't just throw the towel in and walk away from your case because the opposing lawyer threatened to counter-sue you. That lawyer is doing his job trying to protect his client's interest. That does mean the attorney or the company is right. The company took your hard-earned money, they failed to provide you the service they should have, and you have been injured as a result. You may be entitled to damages. At least you should have your day in court.  ... Read More

Bad news.  The "Implied 3-day right of cancellation" only applies to very few consumer transactions -- Only those related to home solicitation; A door-to-door vacuum salesman, a home solicitation for home improvements, or a re-financed mortgage on your home.  The contracts fot those transactions make it very clear up front.  It does not apply to automobile sales at a car lot.  Their type of advertising does not matter unless it is misleading or fraudulent -- Did they offer something they did not have?  Did they offer terms that were false?  High pressure sales tactics can sometimes step over the line, but nothing in your question indicates it might have happened.There may possibly be some little details that might give you grounds to cancel the contract, but that is unlikely.  You are probably stuck with the deal.  Did you take possession of the car?  If you did, you could turn it in, but that would be the same as if it had been repossessed -- the car would be sold "in a commercially reasonable manner" and then you would owe the difference between the original debt and the sales price plust costs.  And your credit would show a repossession.  You might be able to negotiate a deal with the car lot to take back the car in exchange for you paying some amount to cancel the deal, but that would be entirely up to the car lot, and more difficult if the car was financed though a third party such as a bank.  You might get someone else to take over the payments, but then you become responsible if that person fails to pay (unless the financer agrees to release you).If you did not take possession of the car, you might be able to cancel the deal, but only if you pay the car lot's losses, which would probably include the lost profit and various expenses incurred.  The car lot uses that profit to pay all of its various expenses, from property rent to advertising costs to salaries for employees.It is very common for people to feel "buyer's remorse" after high pressure sales, especially cars (and time-share vacations).  If the car isn't horrible but just not quite what you wanted, it may be best to live with it and consider it a "lesson learned."... Read More

This is an oft asked question, and the answer is usually no for a misdemeanor but depends on the misdemeanor. Sadly, what often happens and more so with felons is they end up giving the guns back and either calling the cops to provide them with the video of the felon in possession or delay the transaction while a SWAT team deploys out of sight for them to leave the store with them....and BLAM. If you have an issue here your best bet is to retain a lawyer to help address the issue properly. ... Read More