Tiah McCreary discovered, as she explored legal options against the company, that the dealer has failed to renew the registration on the company’s name with the Ohio Secretary of State, so she registered it in her name—then hit the dealer with a cease-and-desist order, ordering them to no longer use the name they’ve used since 2012.
As you might guess, a legal battle is underway..
Once she responded in court, with the demand that the owner cease using the name, the dealer argued that an arbitration clause in her agreement to buy the K5 made the court case invalid. A judge agreed.
That could have been that, but the Third District appeals court ruled that while McCreary signed the arbitration agreement and that would apply to the matter of the repossession, the claim over the use of the name “Taylor Kia of Lima” was not subject to arbitration, as it had nothing to do with the Kia purchase.
The court reversed the previous decision, writing “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 case is now headed back to lower courts for additional legal proceedings.
