McMillan's Speed and Fabrication Kevin McMillan Neglected to tighten the oil filter resulting in oil loss and ruined engine Oxnard California

I went to this shop to have them install new gauges in my 1969 VW Karmann Ghia, part of this work involved installing an oil temperature sensor in the external oil filter assembly. In order to do this they had to remove the oil filter assembly and oil filter in order to change-out a 90-degree elbow for a Tee fitting. Shortly after picking up the car, the oil was ejected from the engine causing massive damage to the new engine. Examination found that the oil filter was not properly tightened and at higher rpm's the oil pressure was high enough to blow-out the oil filter gasket, which could only have happened on account of the oil filter not being installed tight enough; whoever last installed the oil filter had not tightened it properly!

The owner of the shop initially told me that they had not removed the oil filter assembly or the oil filter, but in reviewing his invoice, on page 3, it clearly outlines that his shop did in fact remove and reinstall both the oil filter and oil filter assembly as part of their work: they lied to me!

The owner then suggested that perhaps the oil pressure relief valve got stuck or was defective, but disassembly of the engine found the valve to be in perfect conditon. Also, had the oil pressure valve causes a spike in the oil pressure, the oil filter would have swollen. The oil filter was not swollen and the oil filter also has a deep recessed channel in which the gasket could not have been blown-out had the oil filter been properly tightened. Also, the engine had plenty of miles on it and saw high rpm's prior to being brought to McMillan's shop and it only failed after his shop removed/reinstalled the oil filter. 

The engine was taken to the shop that built the engine and the owner, Kevin, of McMillan's came to inspect it once before abadoning any interest: he deliberately neglected to follow the repair so he could later claim he was not able to verify for himself the damage. The BAR got involved but could not inspect the engine due to Covid-19; without seeing the engine or oil filter they could not come to a certain conclusion but they did advise me to sue McMillian in small claims and assured me the facts presented along with his purgery would certainly find him responsible for the damage. he continues to lie, play games and desperately struggle to avoid taking any responsibility for what is clearly his shop's negligence.