Opinion ID: 1957633
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Call to police

Text: ¶ 42. On that same day, the police received a report from the Dealership that the Mountaineer had been stolen. Police officers investigated the report but concluded the matter was civil and took no further action. ¶ 43. Mrs. Dorsey testified that as she left the Dealership on April 4, she overheard a dealership employee discuss calling the police. Prior to the trial, the Dorseys took the deposition of Wayne Combost, a manager at The Dealership. At his deposition, Combost offered sworn testimony that while he remembered the police coming to the Dealership, he did not remember calling the police or having any conversation with them. Combost also testified in his deposition that he did not remember why the police came to the Dealership or what caused them to be there. ¶ 44. At trial, counsel for the Dorseys confronted Combost with his deposition testimony and he again testified that he had no memory of calling the police. Then, counsel for the Dorseys played a tape recording of the call to police. Thereafter, Combost stated that the tape recording had refreshed his memory. Combost admitted that the voice on the tape recording was his and that he had made the call to the police from the Dealership. Combost testified that he called the police to report the Dorsey's vehicle as stolen and that he had done so at the direction of general sales manager, Mike Tanna. Combost further testified that he had not recalled this event during his deposition. ¶ 45. Unsuccessful at persuading the Dorseys to return the Mountaineer, and unable to persuade the police that the Mountaineer was stolen, the Dealership filed a complaint for replevin in the County Court of Jones County on April 10, 2000. The Dorseys answered and filed a counterclaim alleging, inter alia, fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. [6] The following day, the Dealership assigned the installment contract to a local bank and filed a motion to dismiss its complaint. Shortly thereafter, the Dealership dismissed its complaint, but the Dorseys proceeded to trial on their counterclaim. ¶ 46. At trial, the Dorseys testified they feared their Mountaineer would be repossessed, and that they had received numerous collection calls from General Electric Capital Corporation concerning their delinquent payments on the note covering their old Mustang. Although the Retail Contract provided that the Dealership would pay off the Mustang, it failed to do so until after the Dorseys answered the lawsuit with a counterclaim against the dealership. ¶ 47. The Dorseys testified that employees of the Dealership would drive by their home and by Church's. Mrs. Dorsey alleged that her anxiety forced her to visit a doctor and quit her job at Church's Fried Chicken. ¶ 48. The Dealership's defense relied heavily on the purchase order's conditional language which, according to the Dealership, rendered the transaction a spot-delivery (i.e. conditional sales contract). The Dorseys disputed this and argued that the transaction was an unconditional retail installment contract, and that a sale had taken place. The Dorseys argued that any disagreement as to whether the transaction was conditional was resolved in their favor when they obtained legal title to the vehicle. ¶ 49. During the trial, the Dorseys objected to the Dealership's argument that the transaction was conditional. The trial judge initially overruled the objection, but the following day reconsidered the objection, sua sponte, and ruled that testimony regarding spot-delivery was irrelevant. The trial judge stated that, even though the purchase order was entered into evidence, the parties entered into a retail installment contract which had no conditions. Further, based on the testimony of several employees of the Dealership (including Hobbs), and on the fact that the Dealership signed over title to the Dorseys, any doubt concerning the conditional nature of the transaction must be resolved in favor of the Dorseys. ¶ 50. At the conclusion of testimony, counsel made their closing arguments. Counsel for the Dorseys told the jury, without objection, that the jury should put a stop to the kind of conduct engaged in by the Dealership to prevent other Dorseys out there from receiving similar treatment.