New York Family Law Blog
The plaintiff/appellants in the case are Jose Gonzalez. The defendants and appellees of the case is the NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau); Progressive Casualty Insurance Company.
Appeal
A New York Family Lawyer the plaintiff is appealing the original verdict of his case against the defendant in which he sued the defendants claiming they were liable for the way he was treated when he was unlawfully arrested in Mexico. He was arrested for attempting to sell a car in Mexico that was believed to be stolen. The original case was dismissed.
Case History
The vehicle in question is a 2005 Cadillac Escalade that was reported as stolen in 2005. The vehicle was insured by Progressive and the company paid the owner of the car for the loss of the vehicle. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the NICB investigated the case and recovered the vehicle from New Mexico. Progressive had taken control of the title of the vehicle at the time of compensation and since the vehicle was recovered they put the vehicle up for auction on Copart, which is an online car auction site.
Gonzalez noticed the vehicle on the auction site and decided he would buy it. However, he was not the owner of a purchasing license for the site so he had one of his associates purchase the vehicle for him. A Nassau County Family Lawyer the friend bought the car, paid for it with a cashier’s check and took the title for the vehicle. He gave Gonzalez the purchase documents that were relevant, but never officially turned the title over to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez bought the car to use as a family vehicle. However, he found that the document for transfer stated for export only. In order to recover the cost of the vehicle Gonzalez drove the car to Juarez, Mexico and he tried to sell the Escalade. This caught the attention of the authorities in Mexico who ran the vehicles VIN number through a database that was not current and the vehicle was still listed as stolen.
Gonzalez showed the sales papers, but was arrested for possessing a stolen vehicle. For this, he spent 11 days in the Mexican jail before he posted bond.
The vehicle was returned to the USA and about a month after he was arrested Gonzalez went to the NICB to pick up the Escalade. However, a Queen Family Lawyer said the agent was confused about the status of the vehicle and Gonzalez left. Later Progressive informed the NICB that the vehicle was not stolen when Gonzalez was arrested.
Gonzalez decided that he no longer wanted the car and instead wanted to be compensated for the harm that he suffered while imprisoned in Mexico. It was then that the case was taken to court and Gonzalez made numerous claims including breach of contract, negligence, conversion, and malicious prosecution, and several other claims made under the laws of Texas.
Appeal Decision
This court finds that the original verdict in the case for a summary judgment to dismiss the case in favor of the defendants was correct. After reviewing the facts of the case, the ruling of this appeal is in favor of the defendants. While the arrest and prosecution of Gonzalez while in Mexico was traumatic and upon further research unnecessary, the defendants cannot be held liable for the suffering of the plaintiff at the time.
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