The law firm of Loren Law Group, a Fort Lauderdale based consumer protection law firm,continues to help people defrauded by car dealerships in South Florida with the appellate decision from the Third District Court of Appeal located in Miami in the case of Bull Motors, Inc. D/B/A Maroone Ford of Miami v. Alicia Borders (Case No. 3D12-2223) James Loren helped Alicia Borders, a corrections officer, bring a lawsuit against the Maroone Ford Of Miami.
PRLog - Jan. 6, 2014 - FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- James Loren representing his client, Alicia Borders, a corrections officer, brought suit against the Maroone Ford Of Miami asserting that the car dealership deceived Ms. Borders by selling her a vehicle which had a rebuilt title out of New Jersey under the guise that the vehicle was a quality used motor vehicle.
We are pleased to announce that James Loren was able to secure a favorable appellate decision from the Third District Court of Appeal located in Miami in the case of Bull Motors, Inc. D/B/A Maroone Ford of Miami v. Alicia Borders (Case No. 3D12-2223), Florida affirming a decision rendered by the trial court against Maroone Ford of Miami, an AutoNation Company.
In order to convince Ms. Borders into buying this vehicle, the car dealerships, through management, represented to Ms. Borders that the vehicle was previously owned by a firefighter who meticulously maintained the motor vehicle. After being convinced that she was buying a quality used motor vehicle, Ms. Borders began driving the vehicle to only find out that the vehicle was burning through tires and driving very poorly. She ultimately decided to trade the vehicle in and when she took it to another car dealership. When the car's fax report was run, it was learned that Ms. Borders’ vehicle had a branded/salvage title (i.e. the car was not supposed to be sold to consumers). When Ms. Borders took the vehicle back to Maroone Ford of Miami in order to complain about being cheated and deceived, Maroone refused to help her.
Ms. Borders filed a lawsuit against Maroone and because of having signed an arbitration agreement, the circuit court remanded the case arbitration. While the matter was being litigated, attorney James Loren on behalf of Ms. Borders hired an expert to examine and value the car. In examining the car, it was determined that the vehicle purchased by Ms. Borders was not only a salvaged title vehicle, but that the vehicle had been in fact pasted together from two separate cars. Additionally, it was learned that the vehicle had a rolled back odometer. With representation from attorney James Loren, Ms. Borders went to arbitration with the arbitrator finding that she was defrauded by Maroone Ford of Miami and that Maroone further violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and awarded her $5,800.00 in damages.
After winning this case, James Loren moved for attorney’s fees against Maroone Ford of Miami and the trial court awarded him $62,000 in attorney’s fees in costs. Maroone Ford appealed the award claiming that the damages recovered were only $5,800 and the attorney’s awarded were excessive given the small damages amount recovered. The Third District Court of Appeal sided with Alicia Borders and determined that because this was a public interest type of case brought under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, that the amount recovered is not determinative of the amount of attorney’s fees to be awarded to counsel who represent plaintiffs in these type of consumer fraud and protection cases. The court noted and agreed with a recent Supreme Court of Florida decision affirming that that the purpose of Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act is to encourage consumers to retain private counsel and to themselves take the role of Private Attorney Generals to right wrongs and to deter unscrupulous businesses such as Maroone Ford of Miami from continuing to deceive the public and to themselves be able to afford to retain an attorney to recover their losses.
According to the attorney "This decision is a very important decision to Florida consumers as big businesses such Maroone Ford of Miami often attempt to discourage consumers from bringing suit against them by discouraging attorneys from taking such cases on contingency." Without the persistence of James Loren and his client, Alicia Borders, Maroone Ford of Miami would have gotten away with fraud and would not have been held accountable for its fraudulent conduct.
James Loren and The Loren Law Group is a Greater Fort Lauderdale area consumer protection law firm covering: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach. The firm also concentrates on unpaid wages and ovetime claims for employees who have not been paid by their employers in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and all of Florida. http://paychecklawyer.com/south-florida-employment-lawyer-wages/
Main Office in The Greater Fort Lauderdale Area
320 S State Road 7 Ste 300
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33317
954-585-4878
Covering: Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach and nearby Boca Raton.
Miami Location
10800 Biscayne Boulevard #700
Miami,FL 33161-7813
305-949-4040
Covering: Miami, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Homestead and The Keys and Key West.
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Loren Law Group Announces A Settlement For A Miami Victim Of Car Dealership Fraud
January 06, 2014 at 15:58 PM EST
