Case Summary - Case ID Confidential

Settlement Report (January 5, 1998)
Federal Odometer Act; Consumer Legal Remedies Act
Settlement: $28,700.00

Case Name: Plaintiff v. Dealer

Attorneys:

Plaintiff’s Counsel: Robert F. Brennan, Esq., Glendale.
Defendant’s Counsel: Lauren Bullock, Esq., Los Angeles

FACTS:

On April 13, 1996, Plaintiff purchased a 1991 Toyota Pickup "as-is" from Defendant South Bay Toyota in Gardena, CA, paying $10,526.04. At the time of purchase, the vehicle’s odometer read 68,233 miles. Plaintiffs were given an Odometer Disclosure Statement attesting to this mileage. At no time did the dealership inform either Plaintiff that the mileage was inaccurate.

The salesperson and the manager both represented to Plaintiff that the vehicle was in good mechanical condition and was a fine-working vehicle. Within a few days after purchase, Plaintiff began noticing defective conditions with the vehicle, including the air conditioner blowing hot air, a loud whistling noise coming from the engine and electrical problems causing the vehicle to die out while driving it.

She thereupon continued to return the vehicle to Defendant but Defendant kept performing shoddy, makeshift repairs instead of ordering the needed parts. Furthermore, Defendant’s Service Manager taunted Plaintiff, laughing at them and stating that he could see he was intimidating them.

Before the warranty had expired, Defendant refused to do any more work on the vehicle, giving as the reason that the case was in litigation. Plaintiffs subsequently, on 4/26/97, received a complete vehicle inspection from plaintiff’s automotive expert Timothy Saurwein. The inspection revealed that the vehicle had a cracked exhaust pipe just below the exhaust manifold, with very hazardous fumes getting into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The inspector stressed that this was "very unsafe" and that the exhaust fumes from the vehicle could result in "nausea or sickness or even death…." Prior to sale, Plaintiffs were not warned that the vehicle had sustained serious collision damage and had a very serious exhaust leak.

The inspector further found "very obvious" evidence that the odometer had been tampered with. He estimated that it had been rolled back from approximately 90,000 miles to approximately 60,000 miles. Around May 7, 1997, Plaintiff was feeling ill from driving the vehicle and went to see her doctor. Dr. Loy Pham agreed with the vehicle inspector that inhalation of the fumes could result in nausea, sleepiness and headaches.

CONTENTIONS

Plaintiff contended that the vehicle was unsafe and fraudulently misrepresented at the time of the sale. Defendant contended that the sale was "as-is", and thus defendant had no other obligation to disclose the condition of the vehicle to the plaintiff.

DAMAGES:

Purchase price of $10,526.04, plus general damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees and costs.

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