An Ohio woman turned the tables on a car dealership in a striking act of legal retaliation after her newly purchased vehicle was repossessed just a month after the sale.
Tiah McCreary had been exploring legal options following the repossession when she discovered that the dealership had failed to renew its business name registration with the Ohio Secretary of State. Seizing the opportunity, McCreary registered the lapsed name under her own name—then served the dealership with a cease-and-desist order, demanding they stop using the name they’d operated under since 2012.
Unsurprisingly, the move has triggered an ongoing legal battle.
According to court records, McCreary received preliminary loan approval to purchase a used Kia K5 from Taylor Kia of Lima. However, the lender later concluded that her reported income didn’t meet the requirements for final approval. The dealership repossessed the vehicle while McCreary was at work.
In response to her cease-and-desist demand, the dealership argued that an arbitration clause in the original purchase agreement rendered her legal claims invalid. A lower court agreed, sending the case to arbitration.
But that wasn’t the end.
A Third District appeals court ruled that although McCreary had signed the arbitration agreement, it only applied to the repossession issue—not her claim over the dealership’s name. The court determined that her legal pursuit of the name “Taylor Kia of Lima” was unrelated to the car purchase and therefore not subject to arbitration.
In its decision, the court wrote: “This claim is a separate matter that could be pursued independently of the other claims in the complaint that address the consumer transaction at issue. Since this claim does not fall within the scope of the arbitration agreement, this claim should not have been dismissed and sent to arbitration.”
The dispute is now being returned to the lower courts for further proceedings.
