A neighbor asked me to use my AAA auto club benefit to have his vehicle towed for repair. He offered to pay me but I declined because I needed him to do two legal serves of process for me. (He had done some for me before). He agreed to do two serves (at a future time as I needed )and with this agreement I then had his vehicle towed for him to his repair facility, about 20 miles away.
He attempted one serve to no avail. He never accomplished even one serve for me then said he didn't owe me anything!
I'm now considering a small claim against him. The small claim form asks for a dollar amount. So, am I out the cost of the tow, the cost of two serves, or what? He broke the agreement and I feel ripped off. How much do I claim in damages?
* Last updated by: JOSEPH36 on 7/15/2018 @ 10:13 PM *

You knew when you did that it was illegal, immoral, and wrong. You cheated AAA and made that service more expensive for the rest of us. He knows you committed a wrong, so if you decide to sue him that wrong will most certainly come out, and you will not look good in court. You are out nothing, so you didn't get ripped off and you have no damages. DIDN'T YOU KNOW WHEN YOU OFFERED TO LET SOMEONE USE YOUR AAA CARD THAT IT WAS A WRONG THING TO DO?

Noted. I thank you for your views on this.
* Last updated by: JOSEPH36 on 7/18/2018 @ 2:51 AM *

Joseph,

Dr. Grave is correct. I have a AAA membership. And I was thinking about giving the card to a friend, because I no longer have a car, and there are several months left on the membership.

Before doing so, I read over the terms of the membership. It's clear that the card is only meant to be used by me (the name on the card), and not transferable to someone else.

Sorry that you didn't take the time to read the terms of the membership. You might think that you can argue "breach of contract" with your neighbor. But any contract used to commit an illegal act is void on it's face.

Check Black's Law Dictionary on Fraud, as applied to Contracts.

I won't disagree with you that a contract for something illegal is not enforceable. Contrary to being painted as being immoral, illegal, and costing AAA members money, I wouldn't go so far as to say that.
The following example is not the same thing as I arranged with my neighbor but is very similar: If you are a passenger in someone's car and it breaks down and you have AAA but the car owner does not, you are perfectly within your rights as a AAA member to use one of your service calls to tow that vehicle. I verified this yesterday with a AAA rep. Even though it is not your vehicle you are none the less "out" 1 of your 4 allotted service calls for your membership year. But someone will ask what's the difference whom you spend your service calls on? In the example above, the difference is the member is there (and affected by the breakdown). Did the member cause the service to be more expensive for the rest of the members? Don't know. Arguable. The main point is I agree with you and Dr. Graves. The contract is not enforceable in court.
* Last updated by: JOSEPH36 on 7/18/2018 @ 5:32 PM *

I'm sympathetic with the scenario you just painted. We sometimes make decisions...with the good intentions of helping others in need. I've faced those decisions myself.
We sometimes don't think there are any negative consequences of being a good samaritan.

But sometimes our good intentions come back to bit us in the behind. It's a shame that we live in a world in which our innocent actions can land us in legal hot water. Either by others who seek to take advantage of our good nature, or a government that tries to regulate all of our actions as commerce, and therefore tax everything we do.

27 CFR 72.11
US Constitution Art. I, Sec 8, Clause 3

...
* Last updated by: CARLIE1 on 7/23/2018 @ 3:14 PM *

It seems to me that even though I cannot enforce an illegal contract in court, I am still out the cost of one tow for which I prepaid, plus the cost of serves I had to pay for with someone else. The opposing party was unjustly enriched, illegal contract or not. I'm thinking Quantum Meruit applies here and I could recover under that cause.

If I can throw two cents in, it doesn't sound like you have a written contract. In some states, you are wasting your time if it's not in writing. I think a lesson to be learned would be that if you were going to buy a tow and you could have easily drafted a contract, called a tow company, paid the price and then you would have a stronger case.

Joseph,

The following is just my opinion:

You were NOT under any obligation to provide the tow for your neighbor. Is that a true statement? If so, then your actions could be construed as a GIFT. As such there's no obligation of the other party to return your act of kindness.

You stated in the original posting that the other person offered to pay you for your assistance....but you DECLINED.
You should have taken the money when it was offered.
Then you wouldn't be "out the cost of one tow for which I prepaid..."

Those were your own words in your post on 11/9/2018.

It's my belief with the situation that I just outlined, your time in small claims court will be wasted. I don't believe Quantum Meruit applies since you stated that you turned down his offer to pay.

That's just my opinion.

I will file a small claim on this if he doesn't pay after getting my demand letter. In my jurisdiction all first must go through a mediation meeting before a court hearing is done, so perhaps it will settle there. This was not a "gift" to the other party. We had an agreement. Even though I declined his offer of money at first, the other party benefited at my expense. I expected an exchange from him, and he ultimately declined it after first agreeing to that exchange. Previously that year, I had gifted him another service call from my membership...thinking it was legal. That WAS a gift...helping out a friend who had locked keys in the car. No other agreement or terms made. But I will not again help someone with my benefits I pay for. Let them get their own! What I did was perhaps dishonorable to AAA, but what he did was dishonorable to me. He should pay, as he was unjustly enriched by my actions. And I will re-up my AAA for another year.
* Last updated by: JOSEPH36 on 12/26/2018 @ 3:02 AM *