37 YEARS
MIDWEST EDITION
AUTOBODY IL / IN / IA / KS / KY / MI / MN / MO / NE / ND / OH / SD / WI
NE Body Shop’s 11-Year Car Project Earns National Honors
The latest build coming out of Boesch Auto Body’s shop in Humphrey, NE, is a 1936 Ford Roadster. The award-winning roadster is owned by Dana and Marge Elrod of Sunrise Beach, MO. In January, the car competed in Pomona, CA, where it placed second in the America’s Most Beautiful RoadThis 1936 Ford Roadster was rebuilt by Dale Boesch of ster contest. A month later, in Boesch Auto Body in Humphrey, NE. It earned numerous Del Mar, CA, the car placed awards, including 2018 Builder of the Year from the in the top five for the Street National Street Rod Association during competition at
by Patrick Murphy, Norfolk Daily News
the Louisville, KY, Convention Center. Courtesy photo
See National Honors, Page 22
ASA’s Attorney Discusses Overtime Laws by Chasidy Rae Sisk
On Wednesday, August 22, the Automotive Service Association (ASA) hosted a webinar on “Making the Overtime Law Work for You” as part of its Webinar Wednesdays initiative. The presentation featured Brian Farrington, ASA’s wage and hour attorney and expert, who addressed federal overtime laws and the costly impact they have on non-compliant shops. ASA Vice President Tony Molla opened the webinar by welcoming attendees and introducing
Farrington. Farrington began by discussing the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), which is the basic wage and hour law in the United States and establishes standards in four areas: minimum wage, overtime, child labor and recordkeeping. As of July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Farrington emphasized that when state law varies from federal law, an employer must follow whichever standard most benefits the employee. For example, if the state’s minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum wage, but there is no state overSee Overtime Laws, Page 30
AUTOBODYNEWS.COM
Vol. 7 / Issue 12 / October 2018
Indiana Tops U.S. in Road Rage Fatalities by Jim Chapman, The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, IN
Indiana led the nation two years ago in the number of fatal crashes involving road rage and aggressive driving, a study released in late August says. But an Indiana Criminal Justice Institute official and two police officers said the fatal crashes cited in the report likely didn’t include physical altercations like the one that led to a man’s death after an incident in August in Fort Wayne. The study by Auto Insurance
Credit: The Journal Gazette
Center said there were 77 fatal crashes involving road rage and aggressive driving in Indiana in 2016, the latest year full data are available. Those See IN Road Rage, Page 9
INTRODUCING A NEW COLUMN! From the Desk of Mike Anderson with Mike Anderson
See page 46 in this issue.
Like a Good Neighbor... State Farm Settles by Bruce L. Roistacher, Esq. NY, FL and DC Bar
A brief history of this very long case is in order. Back in 1999 in Avery v. State Farm, a class action lawsuit was filed claiming State Farm was using non-OEM parts. The class included more than 4 million State Farm policyholders. The jury found that the non-OEM parts were inferior to OEM and that State Farm breached its contract in failing to return the damaged vehicles to “pre-loss condition.” It also found that State Farm concealed known problems with the non-OEM parts. The jury returned a $1.2 billion judgment against State Farm. In 2001, State Farm appealed and an appellate court affirmed the decision but lowered that award to $1.05 billion. State Farm then filed an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.
This is where it gets really interesting. In 2004, Judge Lloyd Karmeier was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court. The Avery judgment was eventually overturned. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that there was no breach of contract by State Farm, no damages were proven and that the “class” was not legally shown based on a legal technicality. The plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and they denied hearing it. THE CASE SEEMED DEAD at this point. The plaintiffs continued to investigate and in 2012 filed a new lawsuit in federal court (Hale v. State Farm) claiming, among other issues, that they had newly discovered evidence that State Farm recruited Judge Karmeier as a judicial candidate and heavily financed his campaign that led to his election to the See State Farm Settles, Page 34
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