Firm Denies Car Was Hit by ‘Repo Men’ : Automobiles: The company says the Acura owner’s account has cost it business. Both sides threaten lawsuits.

An attorney for an auto repossession company Monday denied a Thousand Oaks woman’s story that “repo men” had rear-ended her auto to halt her on the Ventura Freeway and roughed her up, saying the woman had earlier told creditors that they would never get the car back.

The well-publicized accusations cost the firm, DMB Recovery, its business with American Honda Finance and Chrysler Credit Corp., which together supply half its income, attorney Curt R. Craton said.

Craton displayed a black Acura Vigor at a Long Beach news conference, saying that it was the car repossessed from Robin A. Tyler and that its lack of damage refuted her story that it had been struck by a tow truck carrying DMB Recovery “repo men.”

Tyler, 30, had said the men crashed the truck into the rear of her car Wednesday to force her to the side of the freeway in Calabasas. She said she was shoved when she tried to check for damage and was dragged along the shoulder of the roadway when she tried to grab her purse from the moving car as one of the men drove it away.

“DMB Recovery categorically denies all allegations of an altercation between the repossessors and the driver,” Craton said. “DMB Recovery also denies all allegations that the tow truck hit or smashed the rear of the subject vehicle to get her to pull over.”

The incident is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and each side has vowed to sue the other.

Tyler’s lawyer, Dennis Ryan, said he plans to sue DMB and American Honda Finance for $2.5 million for what he called the “totally outrageous” behavior of the men repossessing the car.

Craton said he plans to take Tyler to court because of the business lost due to the publicity surrounding the incident. “The first things that come to our mind are defamation and trade disparagement,” he said.

According to Craton, the repossession was legal. DMB Recovery was told by American Honda Finance that the repossession could be difficult because Tyler had had a vehicle repossessed in the past and that she told the finance company that she would never allow her car to be taken, Craton said.

The job was contracted to James Whitfield and Wes Ventus, who staked out Tyler’s house early Wednesday, but were unable to locate the car, Craton said. Later that morning, Craton said, the two men saw the car in Thousand Oaks and followed it as it headed east on the Ventura Freeway.

Near Parkway Calabasas, Craton said, the two men signaled to Tyler that something was wrong with her car in an attempt to get her to pull over. Tyler pulled over with the tow truck halting behind her. As she walked back to the truck, Ventus walked to the car, slid into the driver’s seat and locked all the doors, Craton said.

Whitfield then told Tyler that her car was being repossessed.

“She responded, ‘Oh no,’ and turned and ran toward the passenger side of the car,” Craton said. “Before reaching the car, it pulled into an opening in the traffic. The subject fell to her knees. It is unclear whether this was an act of despair or whether she slipped.”

That explained the scratches on her body, Craton maintained.

Tyler said Monday that she was sticking to her version and denied that she had told the finance company that she would not allow the car to be taken. She conceded that she was behind on her payments, but said the seizure was excessively violent.