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Category Archives: litigation
Class Action Suit Filed Against MyFord Touch System
A well-know, or infamous, national law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Ford Motor Company’s MyFord Touch, MyLincoln Touch and MyMercury Touch touchscreen systems are defective. The firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro claims that the system often freezes, fails to respond to voice and touch commands and will not connect to mobile phones. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, litigation, news analysis
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, cell phones, distracted driving, ford mytouch, infotainment, Ken Zino, telematics
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Oil Recycling Company and Owner Guilty of Toxic Crimes
A North Carolina used oil recycling business and its owner plead guilty to unlawful handling of PCB-contaminated used oil and other crimes today. Benjamin Franklin Pass, 60, and P&W Waste Oil Services Inc. of Wilmington, N.C., pleaded guilty in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act, as well as for making false statements and failing to pay several years of taxes. Continue reading
Posted in environment, fools 'n frauds, litigation, people
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, doj, epa, Ken Zino, oil recycling, pcbs, toxic waste
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Shell Settles Clean Air Act Violations for $115 Million
Shell will spend $1 million on a state-of-the-art system to monitor benzene levels of the refinery and chemical plant near a residential neighborhood and school and to make the data available to the public through a website. Shell’s agreement to recover and recycle waste gases at its chemical plant is a first of its kind. Continue reading
Posted in energy, litigation
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, clean air act, epa, Ken Zino, shell doj
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Supreme Court Dismisses Ethanol Waiver Case
The United States Supreme Court today dismissed a petition by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers or AFPM challenging an EPA regulation that allows for 15% ethanol in gasoline. Continue reading
Jeep Fuel Tank Fire Fix Inadequate Center for Auto Safety Says
The Center for Auto Safety, a consumer pressure group closely aligned with product liability lawyers, says the proposed recall fix for Jeep fuel system fires is inadequate. CAS is calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to crash test the proposed fix that would install trailer hitches on Jeep SUVs that do not already have them. “Chrysler’s announcement means the argument shifts from whether the 1993-98 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-07 Liberty’s are unsafe and whether there will be a recall to what the recall remedy will be and how to make the Jeeps safe from rear impact fires,” CAS said in a statement. CAS wants Chrysler to install skid plates under the fuel tanks instead. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, litigation, recalls, safety
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, cas, Clarence ditlow, jeep fires, jeep recalls, Ken Zino, nhtsa, pinto fires
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Chrysler Finally Agrees to Fix Jeep Fuel Systems after a Long NHTSA Probe and Formal Recall Request
Chrysler Group will recall 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2002-07 Jeep Liberty vehicles, it announced this afternoon. The reversal follows two years of investigation and a recent disagreement on 4 June between Chrysler and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, when Chrysler refused to recall the vehicles. NHTSA appears to have stared down the Fiat-controlled company in what was a growing public relations disaster. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, litigation, news analysis, recalls, safety
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, Chrysler recalls, jeep fuel tank recall, Ken Zino, nhtsa
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Automaker Defense of Hands-Free Devices Hooey AAA Says
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is taking on the oft-used automaker defense their profitable selling of hands-free electronic devices that are expanding exponentially in new cars. The latest data show that dangerous mental distractions exist even when drivers “keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.” Continue reading
U.S. Sues ExxonMobil over Pegasus Pipeline Oil Spill
The complaint covers ExxonMobil’s unlawful discharge of heavy crude oil from a 20-inch-diameter interstate pipeline – the Pegasus Pipeline – that ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas on 29 March 2013. Continue reading
Posted in energy, environment, litigation
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, doj, epa, Ken Zino, mayflower spill, pegasus pipeline oil spill
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NHTSA Opens Ford EcoBoost Investigation for Stalling
The turbocharged engine is already subject to two class action suits alleging that the intercooler design is defective. These safety and legal matters are now looking like just the beginnings of potentially prolonged and image-damaging actions about Ford’s claimed fuel economy breakthrough with the downsized EcoBoost engine. Continue reading
Posted in auto news, litigation, safety
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, ecoboost, f-150, f-series, Ken Zino, nhtsa
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Another Lawsuit Filed against Ford EcoBoost V6 Engines
The suit mirrors one filed in last February, alleging the same thing, asking for $500,000,000 million in damages. These legal matters are now looking like the beginnings of prolonged and image-damaging lawsuits about Ford’s claimed fuel economy breakthrough with the downsized EcoBoost engine. (Class Action Suit Filed Against F-150 EcoBoost Engines for Stalling) Continue reading
Posted in auto news, litigation, safety
Tagged autoinformed, autoinformed.com, ecoboost lawsuits, f-150, Ken Zino
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North Carolina Man Charged in Odometer Fraud Scheme
The United States charged Francis Marimo, of Raleigh, NC with two counts of odometer tampering, according to the Department of Justice statement released today. The charges were filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on 10 April 2013, alleging that from 2008 through 2012, Marimo fraudulently caused odometers in used motor vehicles to be altered to reflect false, low mileages. Continue reading
Posted in aftermarket, auto news, fools 'n frauds, litigation
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, Ken Zino, odometer fraud
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Absolute Fuels Guilty in $42 Million Bio-Diesel Credit Scam
A bio-diesel fuel company owner was sentenced to 188 months in prison for crimes connected to an illegal fuels scheme and also fined $175,000 and ordered to pay nearly $55 million in restitution. In what appears to be a badly run government program of renewable fuel tax credits, Jeffrey Gunselman, 30, the owner of Absolute Fuels was able to defraud the Environmental Protection Agency for more than a year by falsely representing that he was in the business of producing bio-diesel fuel. Continue reading
CountryMark Refining to Install $18 Million in Pollution Controls to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations at its Indiana Refinery
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that CountryMark Refining and Logistics has agreed to pay a $167,000 civil penalty, perform environmental projects totaling more than $180,000, and spend $18 million on new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its refinery, located in Mount Vernon, Indiana. Continue reading
Posted in environment, fuel economy or emissions, litigation, news
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, caa, clean air act, countrymark, flaring, Ken Zino, refineries
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Clean Green Fuel Owner Guilty in $9 Million in Bio-Diesel Scam
A U.S. District Judge today sentenced Rodney R. Hailey, of Perry Hall, Maryland to nearly 12 years and six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for selling $9 million in renewable fuel credits that he falsely claimed were produced by his company, Clean Green Fuel, LLC. Hailey, age 34, was convicted in June of 2012 on eight counts of wire fraud, 32 counts of money laundering, and two counts of violating the Clean Air Act. He has been detained since the guilty verdict.
Hailey made more than $9.1 million from selling the false credits, and used the proceeds of the scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, including BMWs, a Mercedes Benz, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and others, as well as real estate and more than $80,000 in diamond jewelry. In all of these transactions, Hailey generally used cash or checks drawn on accounts he controlled to make the purchase, including a check for $645,330.15 to buy his home in Maryland. Continue reading
U.S. Sues Lance Armstrong for False Racing Sponsorship Claims
From 1996 through 2004, the USPS sponsored a professional cycling team owned by Tailwind and its predecessors. Between 2001 and 2004 alone, the Postal Service paid $31 million in sponsorship fees. (Imagine how much could be recovered only the Justice Department went after its friends at the Wall Street firms, banks and ratings agencies that cost taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars because of false claims in the sub-prime mortgage business.)
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Posted in fools 'n frauds, litigation, people, racing
Tagged auto informed, autoinformed.com, automotive news, floyd landis, Ken Zino, lance armstrong
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