Lockyer Accuses Caliber of Defrauding Motorists
California’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday that accuses Caliber Collision Centers, an Irvine-based operator of 38 auto repair shops in the state, of defrauding about 100 consumers.
The complaint, filed in Fresno County Superior Court after a yearlong investigation by the Bureau of Automotive Repair, seeks $50 million in civil penalties from the company for allegedly billing consumers for services and parts that were not provided. The suit also wants the defendants to pay restitution.
“These repair shops have systematically defrauded California motorists, ripped them off and betrayed their trust,” said Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer. “When businesses profit from deceit, they hurt consumers and competitors and should be held accountable.”
Executives at privately held Caliber, which has about 1,000 employees in California, strongly denied that any fraud occurred.
“We look forward to proving our innocence,” said Chief Executive Matthew Ohrnstein, who is named as a defendant in the suit along with other company executives. “I would tell our customers we are proud of the repairs we do. Our repair work is backed by a lifetime warranty. We rarely receive complaints. Our company never has and does not commit fraud.”
Ohrnstein, Caliber’s CEO since 1994, accused the Bureau of Automotive Repair of taking “calculated actions [that] are another misdirected attempt to justify their existence and save their agency.”
The auto repair industry has been pushing to restructure the Bureau of Automotive Repair. In September, the bureau released a two-year study in which it found billing fraud in nearly half of the auto body repair jobs that it had inspected.
Lockyer’s suit alleges that the firm’s shops told consumers that the parts they were replacing were new when they were not; misled customers about whether certain repairs were needed; and performed repairs without obtaining prior authorization.
The alleged violations occurred in the Inland Empire, Orange County, San Diego and Fresno.
