Penalty Amount
$100,000
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that used car dealer Midwest Car Search and its owner Scott Spiczka agreed to reform their business practices and pay $100,000 to resolve allegations that they violated Minnesota's Used Car Law and other consumer-protection laws through five deceptive practices, including fake 'certified' claims, illegally added vehicle service contracts, denied warranties, missing Buyer's Guide disclosures, and operating under an unregistered trade name that exploited Spanish speakers. The settlement resolves the AG's April 23, 2024 lawsuit and makes permanent a prior court order requiring the dealer to cease the deceptive conduct. Note: this is a consumer-protection enforcement action, not a privacy matter, so violation-type mapping to the privacy taxonomy is approximate.
Midwest Car Search and Scott Spiczka must pay $100,000 — stated to be the maximum they can pay based on financial information showing they lack assets for full customer refunds — and permanently reform their business practices. The reforms build upon and make permanent an earlier court order requiring them to cease the five forms of deceptive conduct. The settlement is memorialized in a consent judgment filed with the court.
Although this is a consumer-protection rather than privacy enforcement action, in-house teams at dealerships or companies selling through dealer networks should review customer-facing purchase agreements and add-on product contracts to ensure vehicle service contracts are added only with clear, affirmative consumer consent and itemized pricing; verify that 'certified' designations used in advertising and in vehicle sourcing or certification vendor agreements match actual certification standards; confirm warranty terms and mandatory disclosures (e.g., Buyer's Guide) comply with state used-car law requirements and appear in all sales documents, including foreign-language translations used in marketing to Spanish-speaking consumers; and audit trade name/DBA registrations. Vendor and F&I product-provider agreements should contain compliance warranties, representation accuracy covenants, and indemnification for misrepresentation and consumer-protection claims.
Entity
Midwest Car Search
Industry
Automotive"Midwest Car Search and its owner Scott Spiczka"
"pay $100,000 to resolve allegations"
"The $100,000 payment represents the maximum amount they can pay"
"Used Car Law and other consumer-protection laws"
"misrepresented that its used cars are certified when they are not"
"illegally added expensive vehicle service contracts"
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a consumer alert explaining how veterans, their families, and others who believe Trajector Holdings owes them money can file claims in the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The release announces no privacy violation, enforcement penalty, or remedy against the company.
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The Minnesota Attorney General filed an Assurance of Discontinuance requiring Auto Tech Donations, Inc. to dissolve after finding that its solicitations and governance did not comply with state requirements. Its president was banned from forming or serving as an officer or director of nonprofits and must provide restitution to donors whose vehicles he resold for personal benefit.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a coalition of 26 states, counties, and cities filed a lawsuit challenging NHTSA’s rule weakening fuel-economy standards for new cars and light trucks. The coalition alleges the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act; the press release describes a lawsuit filing, not a monetary penalty or final judgment.
A federal court granted summary judgment to Minnesota AG Keith Ellison and a coalition of 22 attorneys general in their lawsuit challenging the CFPB Acting Director’s decision not to seek funding. The court held the refusal unlawful and required the current Acting Director to request necessary funding so the CFPB can continue operating.
$35.0M
Minnesota, the FTC, and a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general reached a proposed settlement with Corteva over alleged loyalty programs that restricted pesticide distributors from buying lower-cost generic products. Corteva must end the challenged practices, comply with restrictions for 10 years, and pay $35 million to the state plaintiffs, including $1.25 million to Minnesota.