37 YEARS
SOUTHWEST EDITIO N
AUTOBODY
AUTOBODYNEWS.COM
Vol. 36 / Issue 10 / October 2018
AZ / AR / CO / LA / NM / OK / TX / UT
Retired Police Chief Returns to the Auto Body Business in CO
CO Body Shop Accused of Billing Insurance for Repairs That Weren’t Done
by Staff, Brush News-Tribune
by Eric Ross, KOAA News 5
Travis Anderson has used retirement as an opportunity to return to the family business. The former Brush, CO, police chief said he so enjoyed the people of Brush that upon retirement, he wanted to make Brush his home. He knew that if he had a job in retirement, he would still want it to be service-oriented. “My father started a body shop business in 1946 with my grandfather when he got out of World War II,” Anderson said. “I worked in that
Dennis Wooten took his car to Lustre Plus Paint and Body in Pueblo, CO, for repairs but claims the body shop didn’t do the work it promised and billed his insurance company for parts that were never replaced. The body shop said it offered to address the issues with Wooten when he came back to pick up his car. However, a manager claims she had to cut off communication when Wooten allegedly became angry and threatened to sue over unfinished work.
Travis Anderson, who retired in July as Brush, CO’s police chief, has taken an opportunity to rekindle a passion he has for auto work and serving the community. Credit: Brian Porter, Brush News-Tribune See Return to Autobody, 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 32
Manager Brandy Aragon said the company does quality repairs and takes good care of its customers, but a lengthy follow-up report that Wooten’s insurance adjuster typed up paints the company in a negative spotlight. “Pretty much everything they said they fixed is not fixed,” Wooten said. Wooten said he dropped his car off for repairs at the shop after he hit a deer. He says they were supposed to replace the front bumper, grille, See Wrongful Billing, Page 10
INTRODUCING A NEW COLUMN! From the Desk of Mike Anderson with Mike Anderson
See page 40 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 38
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