CHARLESTON — Kanawha Circuit Judge Tera Salango granted a motion to set aside a default judgment order in a lawsuit against Todd Judy Ford East.
Clarence McCoy and Troy Suhoski filed the lawsuit against Transportation Network II, which is doing business as Todd Judy Ford East last fall in Kanawha Circuit Court.
The defendants argued that even though the plaintiff has evidence that the complaint was served on Oct. 7, 2021, the defendant has no record of receiving or processing the complaint. The defendant claims it was first made aware of the apparent service of the complaint via the order of the circuit court granting default judgment in the matter.
"The defendant's agent of process is Joe R. Pyle," the order states. "Plaintiffs' Summons from the Secretary of State shows that service was attempted upon Todd Judy Ford through an agent named John R. Pyle. Defendant represents that John R. Pyle is not an agent of the defendant."
The defendant represents that at the time of the service to John R. Pyle, the administrative office that receives and processes service of summons experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 infections and issues related to dealing with the outbreak likely caused a failure to properly process the complaint.
"All four of the Parsons factors in this matter establish that Plaintiffs claims should be tried on their merits, as the Defendant shows good cause for failing to timely appear and Plaintiff will suffer no prejudice from the Defendant's delay in filing a responsive pleading," the order states.
McCoy and his son, Suhoski, went to Todd Judy Ford after seeing an advertisement for a 2013 BMW for $14,854. They were informed the vehicle was actually $19,999 but that the representative would sell it for $14,854.
Despite this, the sale documents have the purchase price as $18,500 and after accepting a trade-in for another vehicle and a cash downpayment, the amount financed was $15,207.36.
After purchasing the vehicle, the plaintiffs had to pay to have it inspected and buy all new tires for the vehicle. The defendants also failed to get permanent registration and plates for the vehicle, despite the plaintiffs requesting them numerous times.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages. They are represented by Daniel T. Lattanzi of Pepper & Nason in Charleston.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 21-C-829
