Motorsport Tech - Lenny Stahl Jr. Lenny Stahl Jr. Lost lawsuit for damage to car caused by error by Motorsport Tech. Still refuse to pay! Sparks, Nevada

Dean S Smith is a violent criminal. He was arrested last year on 62 charges including possession and transportation of firearms and knives and possession of ammunition, as well as with possessing firearms without permits or proper licensing or registration to carry such weapons in New Jersey. 

Please see the links below. 

62 counts total including charges of possession and transportation of firearms and knives and possession of ammunition??? Also charged with possessing firearms without permits, proper licensing or registration to carry such weapons in New Jersey???

First and foremost, I told Mr. Lenny Stahl plainly and clearly I did not know what size lugs my car had, so I asked him on the phone (otherwise I just would have ordered online and not had to deal with a phone call) and he is the one that told me the 12mm were the correct lugs for my car. After 25 years I would think this professional company could get the specs correct. Therefore, this is not a customer error in ordering, it was an error on Mr. Stahl's part. And mistakes happen, I understand that.

If your company had Professional Liability Insurance, or even General Liability Insurance, you could have opened a claim, just submitted the repair estimate to them, and left them handle it.

Instead both Mr. Burnell And Mr. Stahl decided to use strong-arm tactics, used very threatening language, and acted in a most unprofessional manner in dealing with this situation (and I can post those emails as well).

And yes, I sued in PA, and that is my right. You threatened change of venue.

Listen Sam, I dropped this long ago, you should have too. I still have time to have the judgement tranferred to Nevada. Should I do that Motorsport Tech will have to settle the Judgement against them. Period. Your threats, rudeness, immaturity, and arrogance have wearied me. Grow up, i forgave you long ago, people make mistakes. I just thought you and Mr. Stahl were bigger men, who had integrity, honor, and ethics.

It seems this post has not sat well with you. The entire experience has not sat well with me.

If you truly have integrity, prove it by following through on the offer you to me and reimburse me half of the $2,471.98 judgement.

On Oct 4, 2011, at 1:02 PM, Lenny Stahl wrote:

Dean,

I am shipping you 20 of the 12mm1.5 OE lugnuts to attach the adapters today with USPS.

 If you can get fair quotes on the repair, I will see how I can help you.

 Its unfortunate that this happened to the car, and fortunate that nobody got hurt.  The reason for the parts coming off the car is because they were installed wrong.  They should have never been installed with the 1/2x20 lugnuts.  Having said that, we are not perfect and we happen to ship wrong hardware from time to time.  When this happens, the customers Always contact us prior to installing them so we can fix the problem and send the correct parts.  An automotive shop would have noticed this prior.  In your situation its unfortunate that you didn't notice this because this would have never happened.  I can take the fault for sending the wrong lugnuts, but I cannot take the fault for you installing the adapters and not noticing.  This is both of our faults.

I think the fair thing without getting into a legal battle or making this situation into something it doesn't have to be, would be to split the damages.  The invoice we sent to you stated that prior to installation we are not responsible or liable in any way for any consequential damage or loss due to improper application of the adapters. 

Bottom line is, I could be a jerk and not help you an any form and have my attorneys handle it, but that isn't what I am about.

Like I said, I think that this was both of our faults.  Us sending the wrong lugnuts, but this should have double checked before installing the adapters.  You should have never installed the adapters with the wrong hardware, so this situation is part your fault as well.  If you can get a fair quote faxed to me on the damages of the car, I would be willing to Split it with you.

Let me know your thoughts to this situation and if you feel differently about it, please explain it to me so I can process it.

Thanks Lenny

At the time that Mr. Smith placed an order with us, he told us EXACTLY what he wanted, and we sent him EXACTLY what he ordered. We told him that we are not liable if he does not have the adapters installed by professionals. We told him that our Terms and Conditions specifically exclude this (see below). He chose to install the adapters himself. The lug nuts he ordered were the wrong size. Any professional would have immediately recognized this. As he is a layman, he did not, and proceeded with the installation.

Our Terms and Conditions, located here on our website: http://motorsport-tech.com/msterms.html, and sent with every product we ship, explicitly addresses this:

"Any and all complaints, problems, issues, missing parts or components, etc., if any, MUST be reported to MOTORSPORT TECH within 48 hours after Customer accepts delivery of merchandise. After 48 hours, all problems and issues, except for warranty issues, are the Customer's responsibility."

MOTORSPORT TECH is not responsible in any way, nor does it assume ANY liability, either express or implied, for any property loss, loss of time, profit or income, or any other incidental damages caused to or by custom wheel/adapter configurations involving low profile tires, or installations not performed by Motorsport Technology, unless said installations are performed by a licenced professional mechanic or by a professional wheel or tire store. 

"MOTORSPORT TECH is not responsible for customer’s error in ordering."

Mr. Smith did not notify us that he received the wrong parts, nor did he have any other complaints within the 48 hours specified in our Terms and Conditions, nor did he choose to follow our verbal and written instructions to have these adapters installed by a professional mechanic or wheel/tire store. He installed them himself and he is, admittedly, not a professional. Per our Terms and Conditions, we felt that we were not liable for the damage caused by him ordering and installing the wrong parts.

Bottom line is we did not do the installation, nor did we charge for same. Mr. Smith, who is not a professional mechanic, installed the wrong parts on his car, literally forcing the wrong sized 1/2" lug nuts onto 12mm studs, and stripping them in the process, thereby causing the damage.

Notwithstanding the fact that we felt that we had no liability in this situation, in a good faith effort to resolve this, we offered to pay for half ($1200) of Mr. Smith's damages, if he would sign a release of liability, because we did not want to be in a position of taking care of half of his damages and then him continuing to harrass us for more than that. He was unwilling to do that, thus confirming our suspicions, and chose to sue us instead.

He sued us for roughly $2400. We are in Nevada, and he sued in Pennsylvania. It would not have been cost effective for us to fly to PA for court appearances, and hire and pay a lawyer there, to defend a $2400 lawsuit, as it would have cost considerably more than $2400, so we didn't.

Finally, Motorsport Technology has been in the business of manufacturing and selling high end, excellent quality wheel adapters for 25 years. We have never been sued for any reason prior to this, nor do we have any negative Better Business Bureau complaints. No adapters that we have ever sold, which were installed properly, by professionals, have ever failed or caused any damaged. We have an excellent reputation in the industry, which is what caused Mr. Smith to do business with us in the first place, based on his own words in a letter that he wrote to us which we would be happy to post if requested.

I personally communicated multiple times with Mr. Smith during this situation. Mr. Smith refused to take ANY responsibility for ordering the wrong sized parts, and for failing to comply with our instructions and our Terms and Conditions, and for failing to have the adapters installed by industry professionals. He chose to "do it himself" and, as a result, caused the damage to his car, and could have caused serious injury or death to himself and/or to others. Notwithstanding these facts, we offered to pay half. That wasn't good enough for him, so he sued us. He took a judgement that we will never pay.

That's where it stands.