The mechanic kept postponing the repairs and even claimed that the woman owed him money for storing the car.
As noted by carscoops Penelope Horlick bought a 1997 Porsche 911 back in 2008, but she didn’t have time to drive it as long as she wanted. In 2010, the driver hit a pothole, damaging the underside of the car, and turned to JJ Engineering, a service run by Jagjivan Jalli, for help.
The mechanic estimated the cost of repairing the car at about $12,000, but kept putting it off. Later, the man claimed that the damaged 911 needed a complete engine rebuild and insisted that he now had legal rights to the car, as Horlick still had to compensate him for the storage costs.
In total, the woman spent 11 years trying to get her Porsche back, and even went to court. In 2022, Penelope got something similar to «a disassembled car shell» — without the transmission and other important parts, while on re-appeal the court awarded her $151,000, which the mechanic must provide as compensation for breach of contract and transformation of the car
Jalli himself filed a counterclaim, in which he demanded compensation «significant costs» and claimed that the Horlick case was long overdue.
The court decision states that the mechanic breached the contract to complete the repair within a «reasonable time» and did «little more» than remove the engine and conduct a diagnosis. The document also states that Jalli ignored Horlicks demands to return the car for many years, despite the fact that the customer repeatedly begged him to do so and even found another mechanic.