Roush crashed my Daytona Coupe, denies responsibility

[Glenn Bilawsky]

I am the owner of a RCR Lola T70 and a Superformance/Shelby Daytona Coupe. I had sent my Superformance/Shelby Daytona Coupe #106 to Roush Performance to rebuild their all-aluminum 427IR engine that began burning oil and smoking after 4,800 miles of use (it was never put on a race track). It is well known that Roush aluminum small block 427s have an inherent problem and a large number have failed and continue to fail. Roush has refused to publicly acknowledge and accept responsibility for a design/material flaw in their product.

Thinking that they would be the most expedient and proficient in diagnosing and resolving the problem, I spent $1,500.00 to ship the car to them and $7,000.00 on the rebuild. The day before the car was to be shipped back to me, Roush called and informed me that their technician had crashed my car during a test drive. No police report was filed. They refused to disclose the name of the driver or the details of the accident. They provided no pictures, and did not provide a listing of parts that required replacement. Roush represented the damage as a “fender bender” and that they would repair the car, repaint it, and return it to me. I requested that they provide a new rolIing chassis to replace the car they damaged and install my engine and transmission. This would provide me a car with a serial number that was not associated with accident damage….which is the condition of the car they received from me. They refused. They offered no compensation for loss of value of the vehicle, nor for the loss of its use for the extended time it would take to repair it. Frankly, after they built a $32,000 engine that failed in 4,800 miles, crashed my car, withheld information and delayed responding to my requests for weeks while I waited for someone “higher up” to make a decision, I chose not to trust them to repair the car and had it returned to me in Texas at my own expense to get an independent and objective estimate of the damage and repair costs. I told them if they wanted to present an acceptable solution, I would listen, but if their position was to let them fix it to their satisfaction and nothing else, that would not be acceptable.

I had the car delivered to Moorespeed, Inc. in Austin, an excellent classic, exotic and high performance car repair and restoration center, who is also a Roush dealer. David Moore and his team disassembled the front of the car and found that the “fender bender” included broken and re-welded tie rods (Roush did this just to be able to move the car), a destroyed steering box, bent sub frames, a cracked firewall, a crushed and cracked hood… including all the mounting points torn out of it, a twisted front wheel, and broken and bent brake components, just to list some of the damage. It was obvious from the damaged wheel that the car actually had suffered two severe impacts: the first must have been a curb or parking block, and the second was a from pole stanchion. To date, Roush has made no attempt to contact me to resolve this matter. I finally ended up having to file a suit against them to elicit a response. We provided them with the documentation of the damage repair estimate and a letter from Lance Stander, owner and CEO of Superformance and Shelby Distribution USA, stipulating the diminution of value of the car resulting from the damage. What we received today from their lawyer speaks volumes. I quote: “Plaintiff denies each and every, all and singular, the allegations contained in the Plaintiff’s Original Petition….” In other words, Roush is now denying they crashed my car, denying the extent of the damage as determined by Moorespeed, Inc., denying the loss of value determined and provided in writing by Lance Stander at Superformance/Shelby and denying compensation for loss of use since the accident last October. Many would say this is just a lawyer jockeying for position, but Roush is their client and has determined the method they wish to pursue to resolve this.

Each of you can come to your own conclusion about Roush relative to their quality, behavior and ethics. I am basing mine on 3 facts:

They sold me a $32,000 engine that failed in 4,800 miles.
They crashed my dream car.
They have completely denied any responsibility for either occurrence.

[Will Campbell]

I'm always surprised that lawyers, who are officers of the court, often start off with such statements, which are so obviously untrue. Isn't that a breach of ethics?

Or is it like the police, who are allowed to lie to you, while holding you responsible for the truth when answering them?

No wonder the judiciary is held in such low regard.

[czan]

That made up my mind - there will be NO Rousch motor in my GT40 !

[Mesa]

Interesting and painful story.
IMO (read experience) many lawyers are just in it for the money, if it suits the situation truth plays little part in it. When the lawyers say such lies it is to stiff arm you and to drag out the proceedings. The longer it takes to get resolution, the more time/money they can bill out. Watch your own lawyer does not 'chum up' to the guy and start making decisions (dragging things out) that you don't sanction.....as the billing escalates.

[Jim Rosenthal]

Glenn, you might contact John Draneas, who is an attorney out West who writes a column for Sports Car Market, called "Legal Files". I think he'd be interested to hear about this. I am not suggesting that he represent you, as he is in the Pacific Northwest and not in TX, but I think he might be interested in writing an article in SCM about what has happened to your car, evidently when it was in the hands of Roush Motorsports. And- I am sorry for the loss you have sustained and hope that one way or another you can ultimately be made whole on this.

[Glenn Bilawsky]

Thank you all for the kind words, suggestions and encouragement. I am hopeful for a favorable outcome.

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by Oneofakind

Thank you all for the kind words, suggestions and encouragement. I am hopeful for a favorable outcome.

All the best to you Glenn. I note you mentioned that "you" had to file suit and later remark "we" provided them with...... Do you actually have legal representation? If not, and since you have posted this I suspect not, I'd highly recommend you immediately retain counsel. I believe he will advise you not to post and to take this post down. I also suspect you will continue to get the same response from the Roush atty until you do. I'm hopeful you have some written form of communication from Roush in which they acknowledge the damage to your car before you took return of it. If not I would advise you immediately obtain a statement from the company that picked up the car and delivered to you as to it's condition. First question to Roush under deposition should be whether your car was damaged while in their possession. And so it will (has) begin.

Good luck.

Best,
K

[Doc Kaler]

Glenn,

Don't be too upset with the "legalese" scripted response you received from their attorneys. That is the typical boiler-plate response (I only have experience from two medical malpractice cases in my career. Both cases were without merit and thrown out before court, but both had similar posturing from both plaintiff and my defense along the way). But I implore you to seek counsel. Let them help relieve some of the stress of dealing with Roush.

[Glenn Bilawsky]

Thanks for all the words of support. I have excellent legal counsel who I have total confidence in to represent me. We have stayed silent on this issue for months...the damage happened in early November of last year. We wanted to allow Roush time to assess and respond, hoping they would engage in a productive dialog. We just received their blanket denial yesterday. We see no reason to keep this quiet and out of the public eye any longer, particularly in light of their response. This is unfortunate, but we are well provisioned and armed for a protracted fight, if that is their intent. I remain hopeful for a quick and amicable resolution.

Thanks again for the support and kind words.

Best,

Glenn

[Kelly]

Given your account, all power to you. Pretty dispicable behavior on Roush's part. Surely they were/are somehow insured? Makes it all the more reprehensible.

Best wishes for a satisfactory resolution.

Best,
K

[Chuck]

I trust you have lots of pictures.

I suspect you had the car insured. Your own insurer, if it pays a at least a portion of the damages, would have an interest in pursuing a subrogation claim to recover wht it pays you. With some descrete cooperation it can work to your advantage in reducing the litigation costs for you.

Litigation is a lot like building cars. It pays to think out of the box, with lots of attention to detail.

Pro forma denials in the initial answer don't mean much. It is the ultimate outcome that counts.

Good luck.

[Mike in Nederland]

Wow! Will be watching closely. Were you given the option to inspect the car prior to them doing any repair?

[Glenn Bilawsky]

Michael,

The car is now in my possession and has been untouched since the accident and will remain unrepaired until this matter settles.

[Cliff Beer]

Sorry to hear about that unfortunate situation Glenn. That's a shame.

Don't worry about their denial of all claims, as others have said that's standard legal practice.

Sounds like you have a very good case. Be sure to save every single piece of evidence or data you have in your possession relating to the dispute. Cases like these can sometime hinge upon who puts together the better evidence file.

Be patient. Given the denials in the response to your Complaint, I'm guessing this will be aggressively defended on their part. You're going to have to be willing to spend some money on legal fees in order to prevail here. But, you should be able to recover your legal fees on top of your damages. The good news is that your opponent is a viable and substantial business...not one that's going to vaporize mid-case and leave you hanging with nothing to go after.

Again, be determined, and be very patient. The legal system works pretty darn well typically with such cases (assuming you have a decent lawyer), much better than the media or lawyer-jokesters tend give credit for.

Most importantly, don't let this get you down. The psychological cost to these kinds of disputes can be significant - you can bet opposing counsel is counting on exactly that (standard legal practice). Keep your cool, let your attorney handle it, and be prepared to pay for some legal fees to get it resolved.

My father was involved in a legal dispute not so different than what you have described. The other side lost and appealed it all the way to the state Supreme Court, and lost again. In the end, the other side paid all the legal fees, triple damages, and lots and lots of expenses. The total bill was staggering - what started out as about a $10,000 dispute ended up costing the other side over $100,000 due to their own stupidity and arrogance. They paid the total bill, and everyone walked away, and that was that. It was a huge time suck, very expensive, and extracted a psychological price for sure, but justice was done in the end.

Good luck!

"Let justice be done though the heavens may fall"

[Jack Houpe]

What a terrible story, I hope you get what your looking for. Check out Kieth Craft for your next engine, they are in Texarkana which is much closer and more personable I'm sure.

[Alan Watkins]

Originally Posted by jimbo

Glenn, you might contact John Draneas.

I second that recommendation, but would also point out that John wrote a column on a somewhat similar case involving a Ford GT and a lot of his text was devoted to what a bad idea it is to discuss all this in public in a place such as this forum. So I would further recommend that, if you haven't already, you discuss with your attorney the wisdom of any furthur public statements.

[Alan Watkins]

Originally Posted by czan

That made up my mind - there will be NO Rousch motor in my GT40 !

Absolutely! Not to cause thread drift, but I had already made that decision two years ago based on the simple and easily determinable fact that Their quality record is quite poor.

Now we have atrocious customer care to add to argument. It's too bad, though, that Lance and SPF are so deeply in bed with them.

[Jim Rosenthal]

"Revenge is a dish that tastes best cold"
-Vito Corleone

Bon appetit.

[domenic saia]

GLEN, sad sad story! that made up my mind about roush...... stay in the fight we are all behind you!! era gt40

[EGLITOM]

Someone said to me:
" Roush, the most expensive valvecovers one can buy". Seems to be not to far off.

TOM