In July 2017, Justin* bought a 2017 Nissan Sentra from a car dealer selling vehicles purchased at auction. The car was in bad shape, and Justin spent thousands of dollars on repairs. Once the repairs were complete, he took the car to the DMV for the inspection required to get the car back on the road. During that inspection, Justin discovered that the car was no longer titled in his name. The title had been transferred to two individuals unfamiliar and unknown to him. This meant that he was not able to renew the registration. Justin reported the fraud to the local police department. He also informed his community association about the fraud and registration issues, and requested their cooperation while he worked to resolve the issue. Despite this request, the community association had the Sentra towed. Furthermore, the towing company then refused to release Justin’s car to him since the title was not in his name. They went on to schedule the sale of the car. Working under the Victims of Crime Act, Legal Aid attorneys filed an emergency motion to stop the sale of the vehicle. Thanks to assistance from the police detective investigating the title fraud issue, the attorneys also successfully obtained an order signed by Judge Levenson that gave title and possession of the vehicle to the Justin.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our clients.
This project was supported by Award No.VOCA-2018-Legal Aid Service of Brow-00550 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs. Sponsored by Legal Aid Service of Broward County and the State of Florida.