Fuccillo dealerships pay $1.6 million to lodge lawsuit with Five,320 car buyers in Upstate NY
on January 22, two thousand fifteen at 1:50 PM, updated January 22, two thousand fifteen at Two:21 PM
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Billy Fuccillo’s auto business and eighteen of its Fresh York state dealerships agreed to pay $1.6 million to lodge a class-action lawsuit that claimed the dealerships sold car buyers an over-priced and illegal theft-protection package years ago.
Some Five,320 car buyers who bought the $295 theft-protection package from Fuccillo dealerships – including Fuccillo Hyundai of Syracuse — are entitled to payments of $160 each, according to a settlement approved in November by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn in Albany.
The class-action lawsuit covered consumers who bought cars inbetween two thousand three and 2012, but Fuccillo dealerships stopped selling the “Auto Theft Security Discount” package in 2007, according to court papers filed by company lawyers.
The lead plaintiff, car buyer Heidi Seekamp, of the Albany area, was awarded $Ten,000 from the settlement. The plaintiffs’ attorneys will get $750,000, Kahn ruled last month.
Fuccillo’s company, It’s Enormous Inc., did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The company and the eighteen Fuccillo dealerships named in the lawsuit agreed not to market the Auto Theft Security Discount anymore.
The litigation attorney for Fuccillo’s company referred questions to another company lawyer, who did not react to a request for comment Wednesday.
Seekamp, who bought a two thousand seven Hyundai Elantra from a Fuccillo dealership in Schenectady, filed the lawsuit in January 2009.
Seekamp’s car came with the $295 theft-protection package, which included two components: The car’s vehicle identification number was etched into the window; and Seekamp was entitled to a ten percent discount toward the purchase of a fresh car, or $Two,000, if the Elantra was stolen and not recovered.
Seekamp’s class-action suit claimed that the theft-protection package was an illegal insurance policy, because it was administered by a company that was not a licensed insurer, Universal Automotive Services, of Fresh Jersey.
The lawsuit also claimed that the theft-deterrent value of the service was exaggerated and over-priced, because the cost of etching the VIN into the window was only $20 to $50. Fresh cars by law already have VINs installed in eighteen locations on the vehicle, according to the lawsuit.
According to court papers, the Auto Theft Security Discount was sold to toughly 16,200 customers, who were notified in August about the settlement. Of those, Five,320 submitted claim forms by the Oct. Thirty one deadline and will be paid, court records demonstrate.
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