Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed Against Repo Agencies

“Bitch, get the f—- out of the car,” – Woman claims the agent said as he demanded she exit the car.

Flint, MI – April 18, 2023 – Lawsuits have been filed on two Michigan repossession agencies and the city of Flint over alleged actions during the repossession of a Credit Acceptance Corporation repossession assignment. The allegations made, paint a picture of strong-arm tactics and violations of a woman’s civil rights during the course of the repossession of her boyfriend’s car. The Flint PD allegedly only made things worse.

According to the Detroit Free Press (DFP), it was just after midnight on August 24^th of 2022 when Amika Ward was sitting in her now ex-boyfriend’s, Chevy Captiva in the parking lot of an apartment complex about to drop off a friend’s birthday gift. And then it began. A tow truck appeared and backed into the car with her inside.

According to Ward, two men then exited the tow truck and flanked the car, one on each side. Ward claims that one man demanded that she sign some paperwork while the other demanded the keys. Ward alleges that when she refused to comply, one of them opened the car door. “Bitch, get the f—- out of the car,” she claims he said.

Then she alleges that the same man at her window reached in and attempted to snatch the keys out of the ignition while at the same time he pepper sprayed her. It was then, according to Ward that she heard one of the men say, “She’s got a gun.”

Ward states that she didn’t have a firearm on her. The two men then reportedly ran back to the tow truck and drove away with the Captiva lifted and Ward still inside of it. “They dragged me through the whole apartment complex. I’m hitting on the brakes so hard, my tires exploded,” Ward states.

Ward said she was frightened because she didn’t know where they were going to take her and what they might do to her. Ward stood on the brakes.

“I felt myself getting hoisted from the back. I’m like, ‘What the heck is going on?‘” Ward told the newspaper. “They dragged me through the whole apartment complex. I’m hitting on the brakes so hard, my tires exploded.”

The recovery agents called the police. And according to Ward, that’s when the situation only got worse. The DFP report that the woman claims that police then pulled her out of her car and slammed her on the ground and drew guns on her.

Once cuffed, officers allegedly asked if she had a weapon, which she denied. Regardless, officers then went on to search her vehicle. According to a police report reviewed by the DFP, the recovery agents claimed that Ward had a gun and was attempting to drive off with the car. Police have allegedly found these claims inaccurate.

After searching the car, police found, as Ward told them, there was no weapon. But it was then, according to Ward, that the police chose to lecture her, even allegedly going as far as ridiculing her over the missing vehicle payments according to the DFP.

“’Ms. Ward, if you would have just complied, all this wouldn’t have happened,’” she recalls an officer telling her before asking what her boyfriend did for a living.

Telling the officer that He worked at an automotive plant, he allegedly said; “’He works there and can’t afford car payments?’” she recalled the officer asking.

The recovery agents eventually left with her now, ex-boyfriends’ car. Her unnamed ex-boyfriend reportedly reinstated the loan and got his car back. He was allegedly two payments late when assigned for repossession for an alleged approximate $1,500.

$750 a month for a $10,000 Chevy Captiva. Pretty steep. The rates must have been brutal.

Days later, he paid the loan current and is reported to have paid another $669 for recovery and redemption fees to the agency or forwarder.

Ward claims that police then threatened her with a charge of “resisting a repossession,” not a real charge.

“She’s pretty pissed off,” Ward’s lawyer, Ian Lyngklip said. He and other lawyers in the original DFP story stated the obvious; “it’s illegal to tow a car with someone in it, much less do that in front of police.”

Ward has filed two lawsuits in a U.S. district court. The first defendant is Alcar Recovery, the second, the Flint Police department. Ward claims that she was “demeaned, humiliated and traumatized” and that both defendants had violated her civil rights.

Ward’s lawyer, Ian Lyngklip, calls the entire situation troubling. “Putting her in cuffs and detaining her for an unreasonable amount of time, and then letting the repo company go? This is very troubling,” he said.

Editors note;

Allegations are just that. Discovery through evidence may have not yet been provided. Whether or not truck or police body camera video evidence exists is unknown. Without compelling evidence in the defendant’s favor, this will likely get settled by the city of Flint through insurance. Alcar Recovery might be the last man standing.

This case was actually originally filed on January 20, 2023. Missing from the news narrative was a third defendant, “Roe Recovery.” Sources claim that Roe Recovery was in fact the agency that was performing the repossession for Alcar Recovery, for reasons unknown and not actual employee of Alcar.

Maybe I’m alone in wondering this, but how did Credit Acceptance not get named in the lawsuit? Lenders tend to get dragged into these types of cases almost automatically. I suspect that CAC settled with the plaintiff before the lawsuit was filed and in doing so, helped to fund this lawsuit.

No internet presence of Roe Recovery in Michigan could be found.

The late timing of the release of this story to the press by the plaintiff’s attorney is likely made in the effort to increase pressure on the defense parties to settle. For the defendants, there is little value to making public statements and any good legal counsel has likely advised them to not play this out in public.

Alcar Recovery is a member in good standing of the American Recovery Association. Both Alcar and Roe Recovery should be assumed innocent of these charges until proven guilty in a court of law.

Kevin

Sources: Yahoo, Justia, Autoblog