A judge has ruled against an automobile salesperson who has dealt with lawsuits from several dissatisfied customers, turning a latest $10,000 squabble into a $110,000 judgment.
The case settled this week marks at least the 3rd time in the past 10 years Eldon Lee Smith has been sued for selling cars that buyers declared didn’t live up to his promises.
This time, Gary Duncan, among the owners of Duncan Automotive Network dealerships, stated Smith purposefully misrepresented a traditional vehicle as having its original engine when he knew it did not.
By the time legal charges and punitive damages were contributed to the mix, Judge David Carson ordered Smith to pay more than double the $45,000 Smith charged Duncan for the automobile in the very first place.
Duncan’s suit is the 2nd judgement against Smith in the last two years. A 3rd from 2006 never reached a trial due to the fact that it wasn’t pursued after preliminary court filings.
According to court files, the Better Business Bureau also had complaints from a handful of Smith’s consumers who reported everything from incorrect mileage, to automobiles that could not pass safety evaluations due to the fact that horns and turn signals didn’t work.
Smith formerly offered traditional vehicles on eBay through his Today’s Auto dealership in Shawsville. That company closed down after the Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board fined Smith $14,000 and removed his dealer certification in 2014, as per MVDB Executive Director William Childress.
Smith now has an automobile sales representative license with Hutchison Motor Company in Christiansburg. That car dealership was also fined $8,000 by the MVDB for infractions connected to its work of Smith.
None of the suits are tied to automobiles Smith has offered while used at Hutchison.
The complaints consist of automobiles that had actually concealed damage, one that was not restored as promised and another where Smith was accused of marketing an incorrect design year, as per court filings.
Smith was ordered in 2015 to pay $39,000 to James Passmore, a consumer in Louisiana who stated he paid for an automobile however it wasn’t as advertised when he went to choose it up, as per court records. Passmore never ever took the vehicle and returned the title to Smith, but his cash was not refunded.
