CHARLESTON — Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office recently won a court order permanently blocking the defendants in a used car sales lawsuit from selling vehicles in West Virginia.
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. The AG’s office filed the lawsuit in 2018 in Kanawha County.
“This is a win for our office and consumers,” 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 lawsuit claimed the four individual 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 AG’s office 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.
Smith owned CMS Pre-Owned Auto Sales in Huntington, while Ratliff owned Maplewood Auto Sales in Lewisburg, according to the court order.
Senior Assistant AG Norman Googel and Assistant AG Michelle Bradley handled the case for the AG’s office. The case was assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 18-C-454
