feature
Justice is Coming — Will You Be Ready? by Steve Levine
Ignite Consulting Partners
T
he Covid-19 pandemic has presented many obstacles for the used car dealers that make up the readership of this publication, and I fear that there is another challenge still to come. Much like Wyatt Earp bringing vengeance at the conclusion of the movie Tombstone, there will be lots of consumer lawsuits and they will bring havoc and chaos to those that didn’t have the foresight to prepare.
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied — For Now
“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a legal adage that means that if legal relief or access to the courts is not available in a timely fashion, it’s the same as if there is no remedy at all. The pandemic crisis has had a significant impact on the ability to access the courts. Most courts in our state have been shut down or have drastically limited live proceedings and administrative personnel have not 34
been able to come to work, which resulted in new cases not being filed and old cases sitting stagnant. This presented two unique challenges for the auto finance industry. First, these delays caused commonly sought remedies like judicial repossessions and pursuit of deficiency balances to be put on hold. This is critical, because sometimes judicial foreclosure of a vehicle is the only way a lienholder can regain possession. It’s virtually unprecedented that these remedies were unavailable for a few months. Even though courts and administrative offices are beginning to reopen, the backlog of work for court personnel, process servers, sheriff ’s departments, bond companies, as well as an anticipated flood of new filings will be sure to create delays and drag on proceedings. The second challenge, which will be a drastic increase in consumer claims and other litigation, is still developing. While many creditors have taken the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner urgings for restraint to heart, and T e x a s
D e a l e r
September 2020
