Cases
United States v. Westlake Services, LLC (C.D. Cal.)
On September 27, 2017, the United States filed a complaint and executed a settlement agreement in United States v. Westlake Services, LLC (C.D. Cal.). The complaint alleges that from 2011 to 2016, Westlake and its subsidiary, Wilshire Commercial Capital, repossessed 70 vehicles owned by protected servicemembers without first obtaining court orders, in violation of Sections 3952 and 3953 of the SCRA. The settlement agreement requires that Westlake and Wilshire pay $700,000 in compensation to the servicemembers whose cars were illegally repossessed. Westlake and Wilshire also must repair the credit of all affected servicemembers, pay a $60,788 civil penalty and adopt new SCRA policies and procedures.
On September 27, 2022, the parties entered into an addendum to the settlement agreement to address allegations that Westlake had also violated Section 3937 of the SCRA by failing to provide qualified servicemembers with interest rate benefits for the entire period required under the SCRA and by improperly delaying approval of interest rate benefit requests. The addendum to the settlement agreement requires that Westlake and Wilshire pay $185,460 in compensation to 250 servicemembers who did not receive interest rate benefits back to the date their orders were issued or who had to wait more than 60 days to receive their benefits. Westlake and Wilshire must also pay an additional $40,000 civil penalty and must revise their SCRA policies and procedures and training to ensure that interest rate benefits are timely and appropriately applied to servicemember accounts.
Press Release (9/27/22)
Press Release (9/28/17)
United States v. CitiFinancial Credit Co. (N.D. Tex.)
On September 18, 2017, the United States filed a complaint and executed a settlement agreement in United States v. CitiFinancial Credit Co. (N.D. Tex.). The complaint alleged that Citi repossessed 164 automobiles between 2007 and 2010 from protected servicemembers without first obtaining court orders, in violation of Section 3952 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The settlement agreement requires Citi to pay $907,000 in compensation to the servicemembers whose cars were illegally repossessed and to remove the repossessions from the servicemembers’ credit reports.