Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won a recent court order that permanently blocks the defendants in a used car sales lawsuit from selling vehicles in West Virginia, among other terms.
Defendants Karen Richmond, Brian Richmond, Glenville Ratliff, Corey Smith, Richmond’s Quality Cars, LLC and CMS Pre-Owned Auto Sales, LLC, are permanently banned from selling vehicles in any capacity in West Virginia.
Defendant Smith owned CMS Pre-Owned Auto Sales in Huntington, while Ratliff owned Maplewood Auto Sales in Lewisburg, according to the court order.
“This is a win for our office and consumers,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “We remain committed to protecting consumers and working to ensure that businesses comply with the law.”
Karen and Brian Richmond face a joint civil penalty of $20,000. The judgment states both the Richmonds and their dealership were located in western Kanawha County.
The defendants must void all contracts for vehicles they sold to consumers and release all liens on titles to vehicles they sold.
Additionally, defendants are prohibited from collecting any payments on vehicles they sold and from repossessing any vehicles that they sold.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit alleged the four individuals named as defendants played a part in operating two dealerships that misrepresented odometer readings and unlawfully sold vehicles “as is,” at times passing used cars onto the consumer with serious mechanical defects and fraudulent inspection stickers.
The Attorney General further alleged those involved did so without a state dealer’s license and in open violation of repeated cease and desist orders from the state Division of Motor Vehicles.