Lopez v. Reynoso

Facts

Defendant’s family had known Plaintiff for several years. In May 2000, Plaintiff visited Triple R and asked for the price of a vehicle. Defendant was not in town, but an employee called him and learned the asking price was $8500. Plaintiff tried to negotiate a lower price, but the employee asked her to return when Defendant was in town. Two days later, Plaintiff purchased the vehicle from Defendant.

Plaintiff claims that the parties agreed to a price of $6500 with $500 down and 3% interest. She further claims that she gave Defendant $500 down in cash but never received a receipt for the payment. Defendant claims he agreed to lower the price to $8000 if Plaintiff paid $2000 down. He asserted that Plaintiff’s boyfriend gave him $1800 when the agreement was executed, and Plaintiff paid the additional $200 the next day.

At trial, Defendant’s daughter, a childhood friend of Plaintiff, testified that she witnessed the execution of the contract and that Plaintiff wanted to write the contract with a price reduction of $2000 because she did not want her boyfriend’s name on the title. The terms of the contract state that the total price was $6533 and included language that stated that it was the complete and exclusive statement of the contract terms.

Defendant claimed that Plaintiff missed the December 2001 payment, and when Plaintiff came in with the January 2002 payment of $250, Defendant refused, claiming she owed him for two months. Plaintiff contended that her $2000 payment was made after the sale agreement and lowered her obligation by another $2000, which would be paid in full by the December 2001 payment. Plaintiff offered to pay $250 for February 2002, but Defendant refused and had the vehicle repossessed March 2002. Plaintiff filed suit.