A Tennessee judge has ordered a Memphis-area Mercedes dealership and one of its technicians to pay more than $20,000 after a customer tracked her car to two bars instead of the service bay.
The ruling stems from an incident involving Kimberly Porter, who left her Mercedes-Benz C300 at Mercedes-Benz of Collierville for repairs due to suspected contaminated fuel.
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On the evening of January 16, Porter received GPS notifications showing her car leaving the dealership. It first went to J.
Alexander's and later to TJ Mulligan's.
Porter drove to the second location in the dealership's loaner car and found her Mercedes in the parking lot.
She called police, who discovered technician Derrick Nguyen inside the bar and arrested him on a theft charge.
Court records from the criminal case indicated Nguyen appeared intoxicated when taken into custody.
Court Rejects 'Extended Test Drive' Defense
During the civil trial, attorneys for Nguyen and the dealership argued he had permission to take the vehicle on an extended test drive.
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Judge Lynn Cobb rejected that argument.
Cobb wrote that customers reasonably expect their vehicles to remain "kept in local proximity to the dealership or shop" while being serviced.
He noted that consumers do not expect their vehicles to be used for "some personal purpose."
The judge described the defendants' conduct as "extreme and outrageous" and awarded Porter a total of $20,270, including $15,000 in punitive damages.
Shelby County General Sessions Court caps damages at $25,000.
Nguyen still faces a criminal theft charge and is scheduled to return to court next month.
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The dealership and Nguyen have not publicly indicated whether they intend to appeal the civil judgment.
