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Aftermarket Parts Sellers Hear from Congressional Candidate With Ties To The Industry
by John Yoswick
PartsTrader proposed state limits on use of non-OEM parts, and challenging the automakers’ patent designs on crash parts were all being discussed when non-OEM parts manufacturers and distributors met recently in Austin, Texas. The Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) allowed only members in the room during discussion at its convention of the association’s pending lawsuit challenging the validity of six of Ford’s design patents on collision repair parts. But proposed
federal legislation that would reduce how long automakers can use design patents to prevent other companies from producing replacement crash parts was among the topics discussed at the event by Louisiana tax Cassie Felder Cassie lawyer Felder, who is running for Congress. Felder, a Republican who believes in tax reform and repealing the Affordable Care Act, told attenSee Aftermarket Parts Sellers, Page 16
Wanted Fugitive Shot and Killed After SWAT Standoff at West Haven, Utah, Shop A wanted fugitive who barricaded himself inside a West Haven auto body shop was shot and killed the afternoon
of June 4th when he pointed a gun at SWAT officers after negotiations broke down, the Weber County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Kristopher Chase Simmons, 35, was shot by two Ogden Metro SWAT officers after over four hours of negotiations broke down and died after being transported to Ogden Regional Medical Center, said sheriff’s Sgt. Lane Findlay. “They exhausted pretty much everything they can to try to get him to give himself up — negotiating with him, talking with him,” Findlay said. “I believe there was some contact with family in this. They did everything they could possibly do to try to get him to put the gun down.”
VOL. 32 ISSUE 7 JULY 2014
Advocates Say Job Training, Including Collision Repair, Provides Path from Prison When Warden Jerome Price (pictured right) first worked at Deuel Vocational Institution in 1987, the state prison had vibrant vocational training programs for prisoners, according to Michael Ellis Langley writing for the Tracy Press. By the time Price was appointed warden at DVI, 23500 Kasson Rd., in December 2012, those programs were long gone and the prisoners were unprepared to get jobs after their sentences were served. “These inmates are coming back out in the community, and you want them to be viable citizens,” Price said in an interview Friday. “You want them to be able to work so that they’re not looking at you when you go to work and go in your house and take all your property.” Almost immediately after
Price took over DVI, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation asked wardens around the state if they were interested in job training programs at their prisons. Price said he volunteered DVI to See Path out of Prison, Page 26
OH’s Three-C Body Shops Has Filed Over 100 Lawsuits Against State Farm Alleging Systematic Shortpays by Chasidy Rae Sisk
Three-C Body Shops, a four-facility, multi-shop operation in the Columbus OH, area, has filed multiple lawsuits against State Farm Insurance Company in an effort to recover alleged shortpay losses. Since November 2012, Three-C has filed 104 suits
See Wanted Fugitive, Page 13
Three-C is Suing State Farm, Alleging Repeated Estimate Discrepancies on Total Losses
against the insurer, all of which accuse State Farm of engaging in “repeated underpayments for services generally rendered and charged to their cus-
tomers when their vehicles have been deemed total losses.” Currently, owner Bob Juniper is seeking $405,000 in recovery, including legal fees and court costs, of which State Farm previously agreed to pay $31,565.03. Juniper notes that he rarely has problems with insurers refusing to pay the full cost of repairs because “we negotiate with them pretty well. We spend a little time with their adjusters and can generally get to where we need to be. We may not always get the full amount of our estimate, but we get close by compromising until we come to terms we can both agree on.” In fact, Juniper hasn’t experienced difficulty from State Farm in paying for repairs either. Three-C’s shortpay lawsuits are associated with costs related to vehicles that are deemed total losses which the insurer objects to paying. Juniper provides the following example: if the shop writes See Three-C Body Shops, Page 12
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