Auto Dealership Settles Misleading Ad Suit by Agreeing to Pay $75,000

A lawsuit filed last year by the attorney general as part of a statewide campaign against misleading auto advertising was settled Thursday after Don Kott Ford of Carson agreed to pay $75,000 in civil penalties and attorneys’ fees and to desist from several practices.

Under terms of the settlement, the Carson auto firm does not admit any wrongdoing nor will it reimburse individual car buyers, attorneys said.

“The dealership’s agreement to settle was a business decision based upon balancing the cost and trauma of continuing litigation against the cost of settlement,” said Don Kott Ford attorney Jerome L. Bleiweis. He said that because no car buyers were to be reimbursed, the settlement “serves to vindicate the dealership.”

Deputy Atty. Gen. Michael Botwin could not be reached for comment.

The attorney general’s suit against Don Kott Ford asked for penalties exceeding $1 million and accused the dealership of making misleading advertising claims. The settlement bars the dealership from a number of tactics, including claiming to have the lowest car prices, refusing to sell and finance cars at advertised rates and misrepresenting used cars as new.

The Ford agency was founded 56 years ago and is one of the 25 largest such dealerships in the nation, Kott said in an interview last year.