- The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) have obtained a $4.85 million consumer protection judgment against Cudahy-based Midwest Auto Recycling LLC and its subsidiaries, including Engine and Transmission World, Quality Used Engines, Engine Shopper, among others, and its owner, Alfred Talyansky. The case involved allegations that the business made misleading representations concerning used auto parts sold to consumers.
- In November, a jury found that the defendants made misrepresentations about the mileage of auto parts in 9.3 million sales quotes and made other misrepresentations across 10 websites, including statements about having the “largest nationwide used inventory”, that “engines and transmissions are tested, visually inspected, and cleaned”, and false statements about being located in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, as well as understating the average mileage of parts sold to consumers by an average of 88,000 miles.
- A Milwaukee Circuit Court judge ordered the defendants to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution to 472 consumers, reimburse the state more than $400,000 for investigation and prosecution costs, and pay over $47 million in forfeitures and surcharges, and further imposed a permanent injunction on the defendants prohibiting them from making certain misrepresentations to consumers.