A California woman is suing a car dealership owned by Wichita businessman Brandon Steven, claiming the dealership filed a false police report in order to get her arrested and repossess her car.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Christine Simpson last month, claims that Honda of Downtown Los Angeles violated California law and used “the police as their personal repo men.”
Email and telephone requests for comment sent to Brandon Steven Motors in Wichita and the Los Angeles dealership were not returned.
Brandon Steven Motors group purchased the Los Angeles dealership in 2020 for $80 million. The motor group includes 13 dealerships in the Wichita area, including various dealerships under the "Eddy's" name, and seven in California.
A police report filed by the California dealership last fall for a “stolen vehicle” led Beverly Hills police to dispatch a helicopter to follow Simpson as she was driving, pull her over, handcuff her and arrest her at gunpoint.
Brandon Steven and his brother, Rodney, operate a regional business empire that includes Genesis Health Clubs and sports team investments. In 2019, Brandon Steven pleaded guilty to a federal gambling charge and was sentenced to three years of probation.
More recently, the brothers were involved in a high-profile legal dispute with the city of Wichita over management of the Wichita Ice Center. The city last month approved a settlement agreement over the failed public-private partnership.
Here is what's happening with the California lawsuit:
Simpson says in her lawsuit that she visited Honda of Downtown Los Angeles in mid-September. She found a 2022 BMW Sav X5 that she thought would be a “safe, stable and reliable” car to get her to and from work and childcare.
Simpson’s filing says that she made a $5,000 down payment on the car and signed a retail installment agreement allowing her to pay $63,558 through monthly installments over the course of five-and-a-half years.
About two weeks after signing the agreement and taking possession of the car, Simpson was contacted by the dealership. The Honda dealer said they weren’t able to find a third-party to accept financing for the deal.
The dealership asked her to add a cosigner and sign a new agreement while it looked for financing. Simpson and her grandfather signed on to the new agreement, which included an additional $15 for registration, transfer and titling fees.
This October contract gave the dealership the 10 days to cancel the deal if it couldn’t find a bank to take on financing. On Oct. 28, a staff member texted Simpson saying she needed to bring the car back to the dealership because “the bank denied the approval.”
Simpson’s lawsuit says she offered to make an additional down payment on the car, but told the staff member she needed to keep the BMW because she’d already sold her other car. The lawsuit says she also asked the dealership to send her copies of the contracts she’d signed because they’d never been provided to her.
On Nov. 20, the general manager of the dealership left Simpson a voicemail saying that if she didn’t return the car, the company would “press charges” and intimated that she would be arrested.
Simpson told the manager that “‘she was open to a legitimate solution’ but would not return the car ‘based on expired cancellation rights or verbal threats.’”
On Dec. 5, Beverly Hills police pulled Simpson over as she was driving the BMW through Beverly Hills. The department dispatched a helicopter, which Simpson says in her filing, circled the area during the encounter.
She includes in her filing with the district court pictures of police at her driver-side window with their guns drawn and the helicopter overhead. The police told Simpson to get out of the car and walk backwards with her hands behind her back. She was handcuffed and held in the back of a patrol car for two hours.
Eventually the police decided the situation was a civil issue and called a tow company to take the car away from the scene. The car sat at the tow site, accruing $82 a day in fees. The car was released to the dealer because Honda of Downtown Los Angeles never filed the registration paperwork with the state to list Simpson as the car’s owner.
On Dec. 23, the dealer declined Simpson’s request to refund the down payment and instead said she was on the hook for towing fees and repair costs. They said the BMW had racked up $835 in fees and $7,176.62 in body repair costs. Honda of Downtown Los Angeles said if they kept the down payment for the car, Simpson would still owe them $3,012.62.
Simpson is being represented by Elliot Conn of Conn Law and Daniel “Sparky” Abraham of Jubilee Legal in her suit against the dealership and staff.
Simpson’s attorney wrote in the court filing that the dealership caused the woman “severe emotional distress.” They also say the Honda dealership engaged in unfair and fraudulent business practices and took back the car “in a manner constituting theft.”
Simpson has requested a jury trial and is seeking damages and attorneys’ fees. A case management conference is scheduled for July 30.
