Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Sued In Class Action Alleging That It Inflates Lease Deficiency Balances

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services sued by San Diego, California consumer attorney in class action alleging that the financier for Mercedes-Benz brand automobiles overcharges lease customers who have had their automobiles repossessed.

San Diego, CA (I-Newswire) February 25, 2013 - Prominent San Diego, California consumer protection attorney Michael R. Vachon, Esq. has filed a proposed amended class action complaint in a lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, USA, LLC. The proposed complaint alleges that the Farmington Hills, Michigan based financier of Mercedes-Benz auto loans and leases is violating California’s automobile repossession laws by inflating the lease deficiency balances of consumers whose vehicles have been repossessed. The lawsuit is titled Kaghazchi v. Mission Imports, et al., and is being litigated in California’s Orange County Superior Court (Case No. 30-2012-00564149).

According to the proposed amended complaint, when Mercedes-Benz Financial Services repossesses leased automobiles it sends the lessees a “Notice of Disposition” announcing its intention to sell the vehicle, and itemizing the charges that will be included in the lessee’s deficiency balance after the sale (with the balance to be reduced by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services’s proceeds from the sale). The plaintiff, and proposed class representative is Mehran Kaghazchi, an Irvine, California consumer who leased a Mercedes GL550 that was repossessed in August, 2011. He is alleging in the proposed complaint that Mercedes-Benz Financial Services inflated the charges included in his, and other lessees’, Notices of Disposition by illegally (i) including charges for supposed missed payments that became due after the vehicles had already been repossessed, (ii) including charges for previously deferred payments that were not yet due when the vehicles were repossessed, and (iii) failing to give lessees credit for payments that they made during the terms of their leases that were larger than the minimum monthly payments required under their leases. According to the complaint, these practices wrongfully inflated Mr. Kaghazchi’s Notice of Disposition charges by approximately $1,500. The proposed complaint also alleges that Mercedes-Benz Financial Services’s Notices of Disposition fail to accurately disclose the true amounts of the disposition fees that that Mercedes-Benz Financial Services includes in lessees’ deficiency balances.

The proposed complaint asserts nine class action causes of action against Mercedes-Benz Financial Services on behalf of lessees whose vehicles were repossessed and received Notices of Disposition on or after February 21, 2009. The complaint requests that the Court issue a judgment eliminating the deficiency balances of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services’s lease customers and forcing Mercedes-Benz Financial Services to return the deficiency balances that it has already collected from the proposed class members.

The Orange County Superior Court has not yet made any determination of whether or not the allegations in the proposed amended complaint are true, and Mercedes-Benz Financial Services is expected to deny the allegations.

Because the proposed amended complaint is being filed in an already pending lawsuit, Mr. Kaghazchi and his attorney need the Court’s permission in order to file it. The Court is scheduled to decide whether to permit the filing (which will allow Vachon and Mr. Kaghazchi to pursue class action claims against Mercedes-Benz Financial Services) on March 28, 2013.

You can read more about this lawsuit on the website of Mr. Kaghazchi’s attorney, Michael R. Vachon, Esq.