Recent Case

Rosner, Barry & Babbitt Alleges Santander Wrongfully Took Vehicle

“In October 2019, Laurie De Los Reyes signed a contract with Ford of Ventura to purchase and finance the purchase of a 2018 Ford Escape. This contact was sold to Ford Motor Credit Company (“FMCC”). Ms. De Los Reyes received her registration for the vehicle with FMCC listed as the lienholder. Since that date, Ms. De Los Reyes has been making timely monthly payments to FMCC. In April 2020, Ms. De Los Reyes was awakened in the middle of the night to find Lightning Recovery taking her vehicle. Lightning Recovery told Ms. De Los Reyes it had an order from Santander Consumer USA, Inc. to take the vehicle. Ms. De Los Reyes told Lightning Recovery she was the registered owner and made her payments to FMCC. Lightning Recovery still took the vehicle. After this, Ms. De Los Reyes continued to contact and attempted to contact both Lightning Recovery and Santander to get her vehicle back. They refused to return it. Finally, after three weeks, Lightning Recovery and Santander returned the vehicle to her. However, a number of her possessions were missing from the vehicle. In addition, the taking of the vehicle from her and not having it for three weeks, caused Ms. De Los Reyes severe stress and anxiety. Ms. De Los Reyes has filed an action in Ventura County Superior Court against both Lightning Recovery and Santander alleging they committed Civil Theft and Conversion and violated the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.”