NEWARK, Ohio — A jury on March 1 found Navistar guilty of fraud for concealing and not disclosing certain facts in the sale of 20 Navistar ProStars.
It marks the second such verdict against Navistar, according to Clay Miller of the law firm of Miller Weisbrod.
Previously, Navistar was found guilty of fraud by a Tennessee jury and awarded $30,800,000 including $20,000,0000 of punitive damages in the case of Milan Express vs. Navistar, which involved the sale of 240 trucks with the same Maxxforce engine.
This time the verdict was returned by a jury in Newark, Ohio, based on defects in the Maxxforce engine in trucks sold to Dutch Maid Logistics, an Ohio-based trucking company.
The jury awarded $1,025,000 in punitive damages on top of $275,000 in lost profits and diminished value for the sale of the defective trucks. The jury also found that Dutch Maid should recover its attorneys’ fees, which likely will bring the total verdict to over $2,000,000.
Navistar spokesperson Lyndi McMillan said the OEM was disappointed in the outcome of the trial and is evaluating its options.
In both cases, the trucking companies were represented by Miller.
Miller Weisbrod represents numerous other trucking companies in similar cases across the United States.
“Navistar’s current management has spent millions and millions of dollars to defend these cases and has never made any meaningful settlement offer to any of these trucking companies, including Dutch Maid,” Miller said.
“When we started this process, we were merely looking to cover real losses that we had suffered as a result of Navistar’s faulty equipment,” said Sam Burrer, general manager of Dutchmaid “We tried for years to resolve this before finally having to ask jury to decide the matter. Throughout the process Navistar attacked and vilified our company for asking them to take responsibility.”
Navistar in March 2016 reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $7.5 million to end a criminal probe into the accusations that it misled investors about the alleged defects of the MaxxForce line.
When the now infamous new engine standards were implemented beginning with the 2010 model, Navistar was the only North American engine manufacturer that decided to utilize exhaust gas recirculation instead of a DEF-based aftertreatment system.
In 2012, the company dumped the EGR-only strategy, opting for the exhaust aftertreatment.
The company ultimately lost billions of dollars because of consumer claims against the EGR engines.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
