Expensive lesson learned, thanks Laron Arnold

So I sold my car to a friend named Laron Arnold. This was back in the beginning of April. To make a long story short, since he was a friend, I believed that he would take care of all the license and registration stuff since he said he knew someone who worked in the Sec. of States office. What he did however was nothing, nothing except get 7 tickets, and since he left my plates on the car, I have to pay for them all.
He doesn't return my calls, and I've asked some lawyer friends if it would be worth it to sue him. Still waiting on the answers.
See, just when I worry that I've become too cynical and paranoid, something like this happens to remind me that I'm not.