Sears Faces Another Suit on Car Repairs

Sears, Roebuck & Co. faces another lawsuit alleging that its auto-repair business defrauded customers, the latest in a series of high-profile blemishes for the big retailer. But analysts said they’re hard-pressed to find a dishonest side of Sears and suggested that many of its problems predate a revival and revamping of the Sears corporate culture undertaken nearly six years ago. A suit filed in Madison County, Ill., contends Sears collected as much as $400 million from 1989 to 1994 for tire-balancing services it never performed, and then tried to cover up the fraud. The lawsuit is similar to one filed in Florida in 1991 that was thrown out and recently revived. Sears in recent years also has paid more than $100 million to settle charges that it used illegal tactics to collect debt from bankrupt customers, sold old batteries as new and illegally employed minors in tasks for which they were not suited.