Indiana Attorney General Sues Two Car Dealers

The office of Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (I say office of, because A.G. Hill seems to be spending more time running from his scandals than running the office) filed an action against two car dealers.

According to the Indianapolis Star:

The civil suit, according to a news release, takes aim at Jerramy Johnson and Jeffrey Presnell, who owned and operated three southside businesses: Wheels of Fortune LLC, Southpointe Motorcars LLC and Mid America Auto Remarketing.
The men have been accused of misrepresenting mileage on motor vehicles, failing to deliver titles and charging inappropriate fees, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks restitution for affected consumers, many of whom are listed in the complaint, and civil penalties.  

The lawsuit alleges cars sold with incorrect odometers and vehicles that were certified as rebuilt salvage vehicles under fraudlent certifications of inspection.

The lawsuit alleges that the Wheels of Fortune Dealership, which didn't have a license, and whose owner couldn't get a license, illegally sold cars piggy-backing on the license of another dealer, BWI Equipment, I

If you bought a vehicle on credit from Wheels of Fortune, LLC, Southpoint Motors, LLC Mid America Auto Remarketing, Or BWI Equipment, Inc. you MIGHT have legal grounds to get out of your loan and make your lender buy back the vehicle.

If you end up with a bad vehicle that you paid cash for, you may have to rely on whatever relief the attorney general can get because it is unlikely that the individuals behind these operations left enough money in the business to pay claims. consum

There's are lessons to be learned her by everybody.  for dealers - don't let anybody else use your license, period.

For consumers:always get an independent inspection of the used vehicles you buy. Make sure you look for signs of a rebuilt wreck.  Make sure you look for signs that the mileage on the vehicle might be inconsistent with the wear on the vehicle.  You can get a Carfax, but they don't always tell you what you need to know.

Another Hurricane - Another Rash of Dealer Floorplan Lawsuits?

As I write this, Hurricane Florence just hit North Carolina and South Carolina.  Based on what we saw with Hurricane Harvey last year, we can expect that a lot of car dealers will be especially hard-hit. 

We had a number of car dealers from Houston to Louisiana hire us to defend dealer floorplan lawsuits, mostly by Nextgear.  These dealers were, for the most part, established businesses that couldn't keep current on the fees and curtailments that they were being charged by their floorplan lenders. 

If you find yourself with large storm losses, I suggest that you first talk to a peer dealer who faced a similar position but worked through it.

Talk to your accountant, talk to your insurance representative, talk to FEMA.  Don't expect a lot of understanding from your floorplanner.  Look at the possibility of getting an SBA loan to cover your floorplan debt. 

If you get sued by your floorplan lender in Indiana, call us at 317-662-4529. The worst thing you can do is let the floorplan company get a default judgment on a lawsuit. 

(Video from ABC News via youtube.com) 

Like a Good Neighbor - State Farm is There - Settling a RICO Case for a Quarter of a Billion Dollars

State Farm just agreed to pay $250 MILLION dollars to settle a civil racketeering (RICO) case alleging it engaged in an enterprise for the purpose of illegally funnelling $4 million dollars in 2004  into a campaign to elect a faborable judge to the Illinois Supreme Court.  That judge eventually was elected and was theeciding vote overturning a  $1 billion judgment in Avery v State Farm where a class of consuemrs were awarded a big vicotry concerning improper use of none OEM repair parts. 

Now if all this sounds like mumbo jumbo, it's from me trying to summarize in a paragraph things that took 20 years to happen in real life.  Here's what to take from it.  State Farm says it did anything wrong, but State Farm paid $250 million for the privilege of not having a court rule to the contrary.  If you are a State Farm policy holder (as I used to be), this money came from your premiums.  Your money, your choice. 

(By the way, don't call me about this case. It wasn't my case.  I just read about it.) 

Here's the article. 

Consumer Advice from NCLC on How to Deal with Credit Report Problems

The National Consumer Law Center's (NCLC)  primary role is to educate attorneys on consumer law issues. The NCLC also gives expert analysis and testimony to state, local and federal government and the news media. Finally, from time to time, the NCLC drafts publications giving consumers advice directly.  Recently Chi Chi Wu of NCLC posted a concise yet informative article on credit reports and credit scores. Here is the link.  I think this artic should be mandatory reading for college students taking personal finance classes. I am going to start sending a link to the article to every caller who asks me about credit report problems. 

https://library.nclc.org/essentials-about-credit-reporting-consumer-debt-advice-nclc