Attorney General files lawsuit against Columbia Station dealership

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has announced that a consumer protection lawsuit was filed against a defunct used car dealership and its owners who failed to deliver vehicle titles to customers in Northeast Ohio.

“The sale isn’t done until the customer has keys in one hand and a title in the other,” Yost said in a July 30 news release. “This dealership’s bad practices left customers with clenched fists, pointing their fingers at the people responsible.”

The lawsuit accuses Angelo Guzzo and Sean Nightingale of Rt. 82 Auto Gallery LLC, 33735 E. Royalton Road in Columbia Station, of violating Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act and Certificate of Motor Vehicle Title Act.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has received 33 complaints against the dealership in the past two years, most of them alleging a failure to provide titles, according to the release.

Yost’s Consumer Protection Section provided more than $70,000 in payments to impacted customers from the Title Defect Recision Fund, a program that helps used car buyers resolve title problems.

The lawsuit filed in Lorain County Common Pleas Court seeks reimbursement from Guzzo and Nightingale, as well as civil penalties and an order preventing them from holding dealer or salesperson licenses in Ohio, the release said.

Other consumers who suspect an unfair or deceptive sales practice are encouraged contact the Attorney General’s Office at www.OhioProtects.org or 800-282-0515.

OHIO