the DMV wouldn`t give the info so he had a car that had no title and a car w/o a bill of sale from the p/o
The DMV wouldn't give the info out
voluntarily. I have served so, so many subpoena duces tecums which is a court order to furnish information, be it medical records (civl lawsuits), DMV records (title searches, lien info), business records (liability cases), financial records (divorces, child cupport), or whatever. Any citizen can file for these and it costs like $25. The court clerk will hear what you need and issue the order and send it to the sheriff's office to serve the DMV. There will be a follow-up court date in case the records are not sent, the judge will want to know why a court order wasn't fulfilled by the DMV.
The court can order the DMV to give out info. The DMV is fine with that because it is off their shoulders--they were court-ordered to do so. They're covered.
It happens all the time with sheriff sales (levies) on vehicles. We wont sell a car to satisfy a judgement without the plaintiff giving us registration (DMV) records and to supply any lien info. The Joe Citizen plaintiff gets this info. We, as sheriffs, do not do this in preparation for a sale. It happens all the time.