A class action filed in U.S. District Court alleges Auffenberg dealerships “skimmed” fees from used car sales before calculating commissions for employees.
Attorney Nathaniel Brown of Belleville filed the proposed class action on behalf of plaintiffs Anthony Collins and James Powell against Christopher Auffenberg in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
According to the complaint, Auffenberg promoted a “family of dealerships” on a website directed to consumers in Missouri and Illinois. Those dealerships allegedly employed more than 40 individuals to solicit and sell used vehicles between 2014 and the present. The employees agreed to solicit used car sales in exchange for compensation through commissions on those sales.
“In practice, and without the consent of the employee who earned the commission, defendant skimmed excess amounts off the sales commission due and owing to the employee in violation of the representations and written policies of the dealerships,” the suit states.
“Using false pretenses and employing a device to conceal the amounts wrongly retained from the commissions owed to employees, defendant fraudulently concealed and/or otherwise prevented the discovery of the diminution of commissions owed to employees,” it continues.
More specifically, the plaintiffs allege Auffenberg disseminated “false itemized sales statements reflecting an inflated vehicle cost and/or excess amounts of pack fees in the vehicle cost disclosed to the salesperson which had the dual purpose and effect of diminishing the value of commissions due to employees and concealing the true commission owed to the employee.”
The plaintiffs claim Auffenberg personally directed the dealerships to retain the excess funds allegedly skimmed off used car sales before calculating the commissions.
According to the complaint, Collins was employed as a general manager of Southern Illinois Autos Inc. in Herrin, doing business as Chris Auffenberg of Herrin, from February 2023 to October 2023. As part of his work, he engaged customers in the purchase of vehicles.
Powell was employed as a salesperson at Chris Auffenberg of Herrin from May 2023 to October 2023.
Collins and Powell were paid in whole or in part in commissions based on the sales they made on behalf of the dealership. Collins was further compensated in commissions based on the profit on the sale of used vehicles by the dealership’s sales employees.
The suit states that the plaintiffs “reasonably relied on the representations and affirmations of defendants as to the methodology used to calculate the commissions payable on the sales.”
The plaintiffs claim they made vehicle sales, but the defendant allegedly artificially reduced the value of the plaintiffs' commissions and provided false pretenses on the profit from the sales.
They claim the defendant benefited financially from underpaying the proposed class members.
“Defendant’s unjustifiable conduct evidences gross negligence and/or a reckless disregard to the rights of plaintiffs, and those similarly situated,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit also identifies a class of “all current or former employees of defendant who were paid less than the full amount of commission owed on any used vehicle sale made at defendant’s dealerships between May 1, 2014, and the present.”
The suit states that there are at least more than 40 members of the class but could be in excess of 100 members.
The class members share questions of law and fact, including whether class members were paid less than the full value of commissions due and owing for used car sales; whether the defendant engaged in a scheme to employ an artifice or device to undervalue or underpay commissions; whether the defendant tortiously interfered with the contractual right to compensation on the sale of used car sales; and whether the defendant misrepresented, concealed, omitted, or suppressed the true value of commission owed to the class members.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:24-cv-1120