Repossessed Car Class Action Lawsuit Seeks $5M for Gas
February 27th, 2012. By AbiK
A woman in Michigan has filed a class action lawsuit over $29 of unreturned gas in her repossessed car. The lawsuit is seeking $5 million. Is she out of her ever-lovin’ mind? Is this just another frivolous class action lawsuit? Is her lawyer a complete opportunist? You be the judge.
The back story on this one is that Victoria Jean Church-Dellinger of White Lake, MI was apparently behind on payments for her leased 2008 Pontiac G6. So she defaulted and the lender, Ally Financial Inc., which The Detroit News reports is majority-owned by the US government, repossessed her car.
The car, however, still had a half-tank of gasoline in it when it was repossessed. (I’m guessing someone took photos of the fuel gauge and that there’s gas purchase receipts, odometer readings, and whatever else one would need to prove such was the case at the very moment the car was repossessed—though I can’t say gathering evidence would be the first thing I’d be thinking of when the tow truck showed up.)
Regardless, a quick trek over to fueleconomy.gov shows that the 2008 Pontiac G6 has a fuel tank capacity of 16 gallons. And according to ‘Today’s Regional Gas Prices’ over at AAA’s Fuel Cost Calculator, gas in Michigan is currently running about $3.68 per gallon—meaning that the alleged eight gallons of gas sitting in the repossessed Pontiac is worth $29.44.
Needless to say, Church-Dellinger must not be the only person in Michigan to whom this has happened in the past six years—i.e., having a car repossessed while there’s still leftover gas in the tank.
And therein lies the basis for the class action lawsuit. Or at least the ‘class’ members part of it. The lawsuit itself is apparently based on the argument that, as with all personal property within the repossessed vehicle that must be returned to its owner, so too should the gasoline—or the fair market value of it—be returned to its ‘owner’.
Here’s the quote from Church-Dellinger’s attorney, Brian Parker, that’s been making the rounds in the press to explain this notion: “It’s the same as if you left your jacket in there and they didn’t return it to you. You can’t take someone’s coat or fuzzy dice, and you have to return the gas.” Parker goes on to say, “Gasoline is considered personal property. If it’s in the ground and not extracted, it’s a mineral. If it’s extracted, it’s personal property.”
The repo’d car gas class action lawsuit seeks reimbursement for all gasoline taken as a result of car repossession and it also seeks to have Ally provide credit for gas left in repossessed cars in the future.
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I like this and chase repossed my truck when I was in bankrupcty and wasen't supose to because it wasen't part of the bankrupcty but they did it anyway. I always kept my tank full or at least half full.
I had my car repoed after ally took over GM I was never notified of the switch over and kept sending payments to GM. So even though I was not behind Ally took my car it had my handicap sign in it and a carseat and lots of cd's and dvd's. I would love to sue the heck out of GM and Ally I was high risk pregnant with a deployed husband when they stole it in the dead of night.
Did you get your things inside the car back?
Yes, she should be compensated for the gasoline, inside the tank, that she paid for herself. However, how she is compensated is the question … should it be given to her in cash, or the value of the gasoline be applied toward the amount she owes in default payments? Since the gasoline is consider personal property, they cannot sell any of her personal property, that was left in the car, so they must give it to her, in cash. My question is, what is the Five Million Dollars for, that is attached to this lawsuit? Ally Financial Inc. might as well give back her car, and call it even. Or at least, give back the car, and refinance her loan, to lower payments, that she can afford. For her to pay back what she owes, she needs that car for transportation to either hurt for a new job, or continue working where she is already employed, which ever it may be. Both she and Ally Financial Inc. should of communicated with each other more, before reposing the car, to make other arrangements, such as refinancing.
Hi Kat, The $5M is what the class action lawsuit seeks from Ally for ALL class members who've had their cars repossessed with gas still in the car.
AUTO Ally does not refinance because they both the percentage back they had with GMAC so they said to refinance would hurt them because of lowering the rate.
I had my camry repossessed, along with my wheelchair, handicap placard, pain medicine prescriptions, eye glasses prescriptions for 4 family members, misc. change and many personal ideas. When I called the company, they told me I had to verify EVERY ITEM in order to receive them. How can any normal personal KNOW EVERY ITEM in their vehicle? They also told that if I had "needed" my wheelchair so desperately, why hadn't I taken out the car in the first place! I told them I had an electric wheelchair for the house and because the car could not be fitted with a tow package, that was the one I used to go out in. The lady said as much that I was lying and asked what did I REALLY have in the car; stolen property or illegal drugs! I pleaded with to get the specific items that I KNEW were in the car, especially the wheelchair and my prescriptions as soon as possible. She then proceeded to tell me that there was no one available to check the car for these items at least for 3 days and if they had them I had to pay the towing costs plus $125 a day for their storage of the car! If I had that kind of money, I wouldn't have been behind in my payments. Needless to say when I did get there, I did not receive my prescriptions, any paperwork kept in the glove box, but they did empty the ash trays into a bag (didn't get the actual freestanding ashtrays), and they informed me that anything that had liquid in it was thrown away! So, did they also "throw" away all the liquid, such as – gas, oil, brake fluid, windshield fluid, anti-freeze too? What a nightmare! I still do not have a vehicle and my complaints to them have gone unanswered.
I got my car repo'd the morning i just filled up my gas tank to full. I used my card and the amount of gas was $45. I told the repo guy i just filled up my gas tank and he replied "it will be there when you get it back". I did get my car back after paying the finance company. When I picked up my car from the repo tow yard my car was on E ( empty) they took all of the gas except enough to drive out of their tow yard and to a gas station. Is there anything I can do about that
They repo’d my car today September 20, 2019 , I just put $25 in the gas tank… The repo guy showed up to take it, I asked for reimbursement of the gas and they told me I couldn’t get it back … What do I do? Ally also told me to let them take it, they wouldn’t talk to me about refinancing the vehicle… So now I’m jobless again and have no transportation… On June 14 ,2019 , I discussed with them to take 2 payments and add them to the end of the contract if I pay $400 on the car … They said they would and my first payments would start new on September 3rd and so I missed the payment and was gonna try to pay on September 21, which is tomorrow at least $150 on the $546, but I can’t do anything… Because now I have to look for a clurker , to try and find or keep the one job I have or had…. Please help …. They owe me gap coverage money and the loss of my income….