[NY] Does a dealership’s error in titling a vehicle to the wrong person create grounds for a legal claim?

In early 2022 I purchased a vehicle in New York. I had an active order of protection against my estranged husband at signing and explicitly stated I needed the vehicle in my name only. I made 5 to 7 loan payments. The title was issued solely in my estranged husband's name. The dealership engaged in bait and switch, obtained signatures on a second vehicle that never appeared on the contract, failed to provide copies citing a jammed printer, and used DMV complications on a holiday Friday to place my estranged husband's plates on the vehicle, temporarily, they said, though that became permanent.

In June 2025 the DMV unilaterally issued a corrected title adding my name, confirming it always should have been there, with no changes to any other facts. Documented consequences include stopped loan payments due to inability to legally register the vehicle, 6 license suspensions across 5 jurisdictions, a bench warrant that was resolved through a dismissal by the district attorney, criminal charges with $850 or more in fees still partially owed, 3 active license suspensions, multiple tows and storage fees, job loss due to lack of transportation leading to loss of my apartment, a medical episode in March 2022 that resulted in suspension without pay, and a leave of absence for severe anxiety.

My estranged husband's refusal to surrender his original title may block an upcoming re-registration. All evidence is preserved, including text messages, the contract, the title, a letter from the lender, security camera footage, and court records.

Do I have a case and is it possible to find an attorney on contingency to represent me in my area?

I consulted with an attorney from a local legal aid organization, and she confirmed that she did believe I had a case, including that she believed the situation with the two vehicles constitutes a bait and switch. However, she did not have time to take on the case for a full scale lawsuit. Instead she wrote a letter of demand to the dealership at the time for a title correction, but they stated they could not correct the title, that it was out of their hands.

No, I think that is enough for now.

Yes, to be honest with you the biggest issues are, number one, that I live in rural northern New York and I've had more than a few valid legal cases all sort of stacked within this small window of time, but I was basically buried in survival mode, and no attorney seems to want to take a case for a client this way that isn't loaded financially and or that isn't a personal injury case of some sort.

Yes that's an over simplification but I think you catch my drift.

The other issue has primarily been that I haven't again been in survival mode since my husband, who I'm still tied to because every time I try to leave, something like now he owns my car pulls me back in.

I'm so sorry, I have to get my kids to school, it's like a 10 minute round trip thing on a good day. If you will be around when I return, if not I understand.

I agree, and to be honest with you I do have proof that he placed a GPS tracker on the vehicle I traded in and on this vehicle after it was titled to his name. He thought that because it was legally titled to him, he was within his rights, but he forgot to take the ID number of the unit, so I called the GPS tracking company and informed them that I realized they could not tell me who had placed the tracker on me, but that I would give them more than one of the addresses I had been to in the vehicle. I gave them my name and his name and asked exactly what date the tracker was originally placed. It was originally placed the October before I purchased the vehicle, then was taken off sometime in January, and then was placed back on for a few months until I found it on the vehicle. I reminded them of Jesse's Law and told them that now that they were aware of the order of protection, this assisted him in stalking me, and if something were to happen to me it could make them liable. They agreed to freeze the account so no information could be deleted by him in the event he tried to, in case I ever needed it subpoenaed. They sent me an email with the information I could give an attorney or law enforcement, and they also confirmed that at the time it was the only active unit, since there can be free replacements anytime one is lost and up to 100 units on any account. I was concerned the one I found was just the easy to find decoy.

So he did in fact go from truly sneaky, because he knew it was illegal, to absolutely believing he was within his rights because they titled it to him. It took from March 2022 until June of 2025 for the DMV to finally understand and agree, and they added my name to the title.

I already handled the GPS tracker, it was years ago now.

Currently I still have 3 more courts to pay for attorney fees for because they are a county away, and I still have a suspended license and owe court fees for a suspended registration on a car I legally owned, but the title fraud stayed uncorrected for so long I was not able to register it. I paid for 6 months of insurance for him to have pulled the insurance ten days before that, causing a lapse. I wasn't pulled over for traffic violations, I was pulled over because the plate registration was unregistered, and this happened within weeks of leaving him, it was the first ticket.

To be truthful, I already did everything, well nearly everything, you listed. Legal aid said I had a case but wouldn't represent me.

No attorneys would take the case because they hear "second buyer" and assume I'm misunderstanding the concept of a cosigner.

Exactly what do I need to say to an attorney? I'm looking to take this case so they hear me.

And where do I look? A major city doesn't come this far north most of the time, and no one around here does anything besides lemon law or injury it seems, family court and traffic tickets, that's mostly it.

Is there a particular phrase or law or something I need to say to get my point across in 30 seconds or less? Yes, I believe so, thank you.