O’Neal Sues O.C. Auto Customizer

Los Angeles Laker center Shaquille O’Neal sued an Anaheim car customizer Wednesday for $260,000 in damages for allegedly failing to complete more than $130,000 in modifications to O’Neal’s Mercedes-Benz.

The suit against Eurotech Transportation Products and its owner, Neal Harris, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of O’Neal’s company, Mine O’Mine Inc.

Harris could not be reached for comment.

The suit says Harris was hired last year to customize the car, collected the entire amount in advance, and promised to have the work finished within six months. Instead, the suit alleges, Eurotech held the 1996 Mercedes-Benz S-600 sedan for more than a year, and much of the work was substandard or had not been completed when O’Neal reclaimed it.

O’Neal’s attorney, Steven Davis, declined to comment on the modifications his client had ordered.

The car, Mercedes-Benz’s flagship luxury sedan, had a base price of about $126,000 in 1996. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for 1998 models of the 12-cylinder, 390-horsepower sedan is $133,000.