KENNEWICK, Wash.- According to the lawsuit filed in the Benton County Superior Court, a disabled man who does not handle his own finances was sold a car by Toyota of Tri-Cities.
Lisa Nealey is the legal guardian and conservator of her brother, Brian Hoffman. The lawsuit said he is disabled with a long history of schizophrenia.
Nealey said her brother applied for disability benefits from Burlington Northern Railroad, where their mother worked for 31 years. She said the disability check was mistakenly sent directly to Hoffman instead of his protective payee, Lourdes Counseling Center, who handles his finances.
After acquiring the money, Hoffman went to Toyota of Tri-Cities with a near $23,000 check.
“He could not say how much he paid for it when he was asked. What the terms were. What his monthly payment was. He couldn’t even remember the make and model of the vehicle,” Nealey said.
According to Nealey, Hoffman’s disability is evident to anyone who interacts with him, and he is unable to enter into any type of business contract.
“All they had to do was tell him ‘sign here’ and he will sign it. Brian does not have the ability to understand debt to income ratio, so he would not know how to commit fraud at a dealership and more importantly, he wouldn’t,” Nealey said.
According to the lawsuit, the complaint is for loan fraud, violations of the Auto Dealers Act, violations of the Consumer Protection Act, violations of Washington’s law against discrimination, and other wrongful conduct.
The lawsuit said a Toyota dealership employee drove Hoffman to a bank to open an account for the purpose of buying a car.
“Hoffman then obtained a certified check from the bank for the purchase of the Vehicle. The dealership then deceptively submitted false information on multiple credit applications on behalf of Hoffman in order to obtain a lender to finance the balance of the purchase price,” the lawsuit said.
I called Roth Business Services, the registered agent for D.J.C Automotive, doing business as Toyota Tri-Cities, and they said they could not speak on the matter.
I also reached out to the Toyota of Tri-Cities, and they told me, “We are unable to respond to ongoing litigation.”
In the lawsuit documents, there’s a response from Toyota Tri-Cities in 2021, when Brian bought the car.
“In reviewing the car deal and the paperwork signed, the credit application has provable information regarding residence and income for Brian. We have documents in the file supporting the stated income.”
Nealey said that she called Toyota Tri-Cities, asking if they ran his credit, and they replied that it didn’t register.
“When I asked them, ‘How does someone qualify for newer vehicle like this without credit?’ The response I received was equally shocking, ‘it happens all the time.'” Nealey said.
According to the lawsuit, Hoffman did not have a bank account or credit because of his disabilities.
