Can I sue ex-boyfrriend to repay a loan?

On May 1, 6:41 am, jmk0317 <jenna_ku...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> My boyfriend (of 5 years) and I broke up in February of 2005.

[OP says she had lent her ex $4000 at various times for various reasons]

> We never put these loans in writing, but he did agree to repay the
> $4,000 and offered to sell one of his ATV's to repay me.

You can sue him on that promise, but absent a written note, it will be a "he said -she said" situation if he denies receiving the money, denies that it was a loan, or denies making a promise to repay you.   As always in cases where the evidence is evenly balanced, chances are good that the defendant (your ex) will win.  This is because you, as the plaintiff, have the burden of persuasion and proof, and if the factfinder's (judge or jury's) mind is evenly balanced, you have not met that burden of putting forth a "preponderance of the evidence."  But if his denials are simply not credible or if he does admit to the existence of the necessary elements of your claim when he is questioned under oath, you may win.

> I know that
> it was stupid not to put the loans in writing, but I think I was smart
> here...for the last few years of our relationship, he did not have a
> driver's license, so we titled his vehicle in my name to be able to
> register & insure it. Knowing he would get his license back shortly, i
> gave him the title when he moved out so he could register it on his
> own but never signed it.

Putting aside the question of why you would buy a Hummer jointly with a guy who had no driver's license, being smart would have meant your _keeping_ the title (to his other vehicle) _in_your_ possession_ until he _fully_ repaid you.   As you recognize, it was just about the only thing you had as leverage over him to induce repayment of the loans, since you did not bother to put anything in writing or take back a security interest (lien) in any of  the things you actually helped him pay for.so they could act as collateral for the loans.

> I was not going to sign it until I saw my
> money, but I finally signed it after he made 3 deposits into my new
> account totalling $600.

That was exceedingly trusting of you, toward someone whom you already had reason not to trust.  And in doing so you gave up any further leverage you had over him as an incentive to his continuing payments.

> Of course, those were the last deposits I saw
> from him.

Not surprising.

> My question is this...Can I get him (legally make him) to repay these
> loans?

Yes, you can sue him, as noted above.   Whether that suit would be successful is an open question and "it depends"(TM) on all the pertinent facts and law, as may only become apparent at trial, depending on what _he_ says.

> I do have several emails between us through these months.
> Nothing that states "I, slimey exboyfriend, do recognize and promise
> to repay said loan...", but they allude to an acknowledgement.

Well, what _exactly_ do they say?   They may or may not be sufficient to constitute a "writing" acknowledging the debt that would tilt the scales of justice in your favor.   How can we comment on them if you do not quote them?

However, since they are all you've got, if you do decide to sue, then by all means you will want to offer the emails into evidence for whatever their weight and value may be.

> I also
> have all of the cancelled checks & deposit slips, but I do not know if
> that will help, as both of our names were still on the account.

Um, how do YOU have the cancelled checks, if HE wrote them to YOU?   They would have been returned to HIM by his bank.   Or do you mean he wrote checks to you, from your JOINTLY OWNED account?   That would be bizarre.

Or are you referring to cancelled checks from your (personal) home equity account from you TO HIM, constituting the loans, and the deposit slips for his repayments TO YOU coming from some other source?  That would make more sense.   It would also help greatly if you had written something on the equity checks, WHEN THEY WERE ISSUED, to the effect that they were a "loan" -- even that single word on the "memo" line on the lower left corner of most checks, would maybe tip the balance.   But if you DIDN'T do that, way back when you made the loans, DON'T try to "fake it" now; that would be tampering with evidence, fraud, and all kinds of other nasty (and possibly criminal) stuff.

If you can show that he made payments to you from HIS OWN funds AFTER you broke up, it may bolster your testimony that these were intended as a beginning of repayment of your loan to him.  But why on earth did you keep a JOINT account open after you broke up?   Even if he wrote checks to that account from a different source, he could argue that he was just using it as a depository for his OWN money, unrelated to any claims of yours.

> Oh, here is another twist...while this was happenning, I sold my home
> and moved across the country. About ten months later, I found out that
> he had gotten married and also moved actross the country, but to a
> different state then me. If I can sue him, where do I do it???

Neither of those moves have anything to do with whether you can sue him or not, except as an inconvenience.   You can only sue a defendant and require him to appear in court in a jurisdiction with which he has sufficient contacts so that compelling him to appear there would not be fundamentally unfair; that would violate the due process clause of the US Constitution.   Thus, in a typical contract case you can sue either in the state where the contract was made (i.e. where you reached an agreement), the state where it was performed in whole or in part (i.e. where the payments were sent to or from), or where the defendant currently lives or regularly does business.   You can't sue him where YOU now live unless HE has sufficient contacts there.   So you may have to go back to your old haunts, or track him down to his new state, if you want to sue him.   Or an attorney in one of those places could do so for you.   If you don't want to travel, you can hire a local attorney where YOU live, who would then make the necessarly arrangements with a local co-counsel if he determines that he has to sue in one of those other states.

Good luck,
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Mike Jacobs
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