Page 43 - GIADA-April2017

COMPLIANCE TIPS

that the defendants failed to disclose these The court concluded that the plaintiffs’ Mendoza v. Lithia Motors, Inc., 2017 U.S.
alleged payments and kickbacks. allegations did not support causation un- Dist. LEXIS 4716 (D. Or. January 11,
der the UTPA; they failed to explain how 2017)
The plaintiffs also alleged that the defen- the defendants’ conduct caused them to
dants failed to disclose that they received suffer losses in an amount equal to the So there’s this month’s roundup! Stay le-
payments from third parties for arrang- payments or kickbacks the defendants gal, and we’ll see you next month. n
ing the sale of “extended service warranty allegedly received. The plaintiffs did not _________________________________
contracts”. The defendants moved to dis- allege how the vehicle transactions would Tom (thudson@hudco.com) is Of Coun-
miss. have been different if the defendants had sel and Nikki (nmunro@hudco.com) is a
disclosed the alleged payments or kick- partner in the law firm of Hudson Cook,
The federal trial court first denied the de- backs – for example, that they would have LLP. Tom has written several books and is
fendants’ motion to dismiss certain TILA declined to purchase the vehicles or the the publisher of Spot Delivery®, a month-
and UTPA claims as untimely. Next, with service contracts or would have obtained ly legal newsletter for auto dealers. He is
respect to the UTPA claims, the defen- more favorable financing. Editor in Chief of CARLAW®, a monthly
dants argued that the plaintiffs could not report of legal developments for the auto
show they suffered ascertainable loss as The court provided the plaintiffs an op- finance and leasing industry. Nikki is a
a result of the defendants’ alleged mis- portunity to amend their complaint to contributing author to the F&I Legal Desk
representations or concealments or that clarify their losses and how those losses Book and frequently writes for Spot De-
the loss was caused by the alleged unlaw- were caused by the defendants’ conduct. livery. For information, visit www.coun-
ful trade practice. The plaintiffs alleged Because the court found that the TILA selorlibrary.com. ©CounselorLibrary.com
that their ascertainable loss equaled the claim was timely and that the plain- 2016, all rights reserved. Single publica-
amount that the defendants received as tiffs could, depending on the proposed tion rights only, to the Association. (3/17).
“kickbacks” or retained as profit with re- amendments, sufficiently allege a UTPA HC# 4817-2570-4260
spect to the vehicle financing and service claim, the court denied the motion to dis-
contracts. miss the elder abuse claim.

we are. counselorlibrary.com

877-464-8326

GIADA Independent Auto Dealer APRIL 2017 | 41