Enterprise car rental company sues Mooresville police, Randy Marion over theft claims
Car rental company Enterprise Fleet Management, the world’s largest vehicle fleet operator, has sued the town of Mooresville, a police detective and auto dealer Randy Marion over $2 million in rental vans the dealership and police claim were stolen.
In its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Statesville, Enterprise disputes the claim. The St. Louis-based company says it still owns the 34 cargo vans and that police should never have entered them as stolen in a national crime database.
The 2023 RAM ProMaster 3500 vans cost $60,000 apiece, according to the Enterprise lawsuit. The complaint says Enterprise leased the vans to a national HVAC and refrigeration services company not named in the lawsuit.
The HVAC company can’t use the vans while they’re listed as stolen, according to the lawsuit. The drivers face “a high risk” of being “pulled over, detained, arrested and charged with a crime,” the complaint says.
The vans are scattered nationwide with the HVAC and refrigeration services company, according to the Enterprise lawsuit filed June 21.
Mooresville police listed them as stolen after Mooresville-based Randy Marion Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram wrongly claimed ownership of the vans, Enterprise says in the lawsuit.
Enterprise: Dispute didn’t involve us
The case stems from a contract dispute that didn’t involve Enterprise, its complaint says.
Randy Marion originally sold the vans to Zeeba, a California-based national fleet management and vehicle leasing company, according to the lawsuit.
Zeeba then sold the vans to an Ohio-based Mercedes-Benz dealership that in turn sold them to Enterprise, the lawsuit says.
According to the complaint, the Randy Marion dealership contends Zeeba failed to pay it for the vans per terms of their sales agreement.
“This dispute between Randy Marion and Zeeba Company does not affect Enterprise’s ownership” of the vans, according to its lawsuit. “Enterprise is an innocent third-party to that dispute.”
“And North Carolina law is clear,” the lawsuit says: Despite the Randy Marion-Zeeba sales dispute, Zeeba still had the power to transfer the titles of the vans to Mercedes-Benz of West Chester, Ohio.
Before they filed the complaint, Enterprise officials say in the lawsuit, they repeatedly told Mooresville police the vans weren’t stolen.
In its lawsuit, Enterprise included copies of the certificates of origin showing Randy Marion’s transfer of ownership of the vans to Zeeba, and the Illinois certificates of title and registration identification cards identifying Enterprise as their legal owner.
“Yet the Police Department refuses to remove the Cargo Vans from the stolen-vehicle registry,” according to the lawsuit.
Mooresville Police Detective Corey Richard also is named in the lawsuit for what Enterprise said has been his ongoing refusal to remove the vans from the crime database.
Charlotte lawyer Jake Stewart, who represents the town and Richard in the lawsuit, declined to comment when contacted by The Charlotte Observer on Friday.
The Observer on Friday also emailed Raleigh lawyer Chris Jones, who represents Enterprise, and emailed and left a phone message for Jennifer Marion of the dealership. Neither replied by Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, July 2, Enterprise FM Trust, the company’s fleet management arm, filed a request for a preliminary injunction barring the Randy Marion dealership, town of Mooresville and Richard “from further interference with Enterprise’s property rights” involving the vans, court records show.
Enterprise wants Judge Kenneth Bell to rule that Enterprise, not Randy Marion, owns the vans and to order police to remove them from the crime database.
Bell hadn’t scheduled a hearing on the request by Tuesday, according to court documents.