Wrongful Repossession Lawsuits

These are factual allegation in a New Jersey lawsuit. These were submitted to the court in opposition to a summary judgment motion filed by the defendant.

1. This litigation arises out of the plaintiff’s possession and subsequent repossession of the subject automobile, which is a XXX.

2. The plaintiff was indebted to the defendant, Finance Company, as a result of a vehicle purchase, a XXX.

3. When this vehicle was repossessed on or about May 2010, it was not the first time that there were issues with regard to payments and repossession on the subject automobile.

4. The vehicle had been repossessed on at least one previous occasion and there had been several discussions back and forth between the parties pertaining to payment arrangements to avoid repossession.

5. The plaintiff had several agreements with the defendant,XXX, with regard to late payments so the vehicle would not be repossessed.

6. The repossession in question occurred on or about May 14, 2010. The plaintiff was in her car with her two young children, both of whom who are under five years of age and wearing diapers.

7. The plaintiff was returning to her home and driving slowly towards her house.

8. The plaintiff then noticed a vehicle coming directly at her in the same lane of traffic.

9. At the same time, she noticed two other cars, one on the side and one on the rear, boxing her in and barricading her into the street. The gentlemen who exited the cars were wearing badges and they looked like police badges.

10. The plaintiff felt barricaded in her car with her children and refused to get out of the car despite numerous requests to the contrary from XXX.

11. A heated argument ensued between XXX and the plaintiff with regard to exiting from the vehicle. The repossession agent refused to let the plaintiff drive to her home or get out of the car.

12. The repossession agent, XXX, actually unlocked the plaintiff’s vehicle while she was in the vehicle.

13. When the defendant, XXX, approached the plaintiff, he said, ‘well, well, well, we meet again’, and he was wearing a badge. At one point during the repossession process, the repossession agent showed the badge to the neighbors and said that the situation was under control. Ultimately, the plaintiff refused to exit her car and was driven to her home with her children in the rear by a repossession agent of XXX. The plaintiff testified specifically in her deposition that: “As I was coming down my street maybe a house-and-a-half away from my own house, a white car came head on at me, a car came at my driver side and one came from behind me. I stopped my truck. XXX said “Well, well, well, we meet again.” He unlocked my door and opened it. I said I just made a payment. He said that it was not for my van but they’d be back for it, it was for the XXX and I explained to him that I talked to Darryl from XXX and I had my girls in the back. And my youngest daughter just had a diaper on and he told me to get out and walk. I told him I wasn’t walking because I was so close to the home. Just let me drive home. He wouldn’t let me. I said my daughter only had a diaper. He said he would give me a shirt to put on her. I said I wasn’t getting out of my truck. I called my husband at his job and XXX had one of the other two guys that were there. He told me to move out of the driver seat into the passenger seat and the other guy got into driver seat and drove the plaintiff to her home.” The argument occurred when the defendant, XXX, kept telling the plaintiff to get out of the truck and the plaintiff said she was not getting out of the truck, just let her drive.