Pep Boys-Manny v. Vaughn, Unpublished Decision (2-16-2006)

2006 Ohio 698
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 16, 2006
DocketNo. 04AP-1221.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2006 Ohio 698 (Pep Boys-Manny v. Vaughn, Unpublished Decision (2-16-2006)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pep Boys-Manny v. Vaughn, Unpublished Decision (2-16-2006), 2006 Ohio 698 (Ohio Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Pep Boys — Manny, Moe Jack of Delaware, Inc. ("Pep Boys"), appeals from a judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee, Carol Vaughn, on her action for negligence and violation of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act ("CSPA"). For the following reasons, we affirm.

{¶ 2} In early August 2003, Vaughn noticed that her car, a 1995 Buick LaSabre, was using more oil than it normally did. Vaughn, who prides herself on maintaining her car in good condition, asked her nephew, Gregory Nixon, to take the car to the West Broad Street Pep Boys, so that its mechanics could determine whether an oil leak existed and, if one did, repair it. Vaughn chose Pep Boys because a Pep Boys garage was located near her home and she believed that she could trust Pep Boys' mechanics to perform good work.

{¶ 3} On August 30, 2003, Nixon drove the car to Pep Boys and asked that it be checked for an oil leak. Nixon later received a phone call from a Pep Boys' employee, in which the employee informed him that a Pep Boys' mechanic had found an oil leak in the oil filter, and that the mechanic had repaired the leak. On September 1, 2003, Nixon returned to Pep Boys, claimed his aunt's car, and paid the $151.66 bill. Nixon was given an invoice and receipt, both of which stated that Pep Boys' mechanics had performed an oil leak diagnostic test and changed the oil in the car. Nixon then drove his aunt's car to her home without incident.

{¶ 4} The next morning, Vaughn could not get her car to start. Vaughn telephoned Nixon for help. When Nixon arrived at his aunt's home, he checked the car's oil level and discovered that there was no oil in the engine. Nixon added oil to the car and then "jumped" the car to get it started. Meanwhile, Vaughn telephoned Pep Boys and told an employee that she had just gotten her car repaired there, and not only was it not running, but it also had no oil in it. In response, the Pep Boys' employee offered to deduct the cost of the oil from her next bill.

{¶ 5} On September 3, 2003, Nixon drove Vaughn's car back to Pep Boys. During this second visit, Michael Barnhart, an ASE master technician, worked on the car. Barnhart performed a second oil leak diagnostic test in order to determine whether the engine was leaking oil. At trial, Barnhart testified that he conducted the oil leak diagnostic test according to Pep Boys' policy. First, he injected a dye that fluoresces under an ultraviolet light into the engine oil. He then drove the car from five to seven miles at speeds between 45 and 50 miles per hour. Upon returning to the garage, Barnhart shone an ultraviolet light on the engine, and from the presence and location of the dye-infused oil, determined that the car was leaking oil from the front timing cover gasket.

{¶ 6} To fix the leak, Barnhart removed the water pump, crank shaft pulley, timing cover, and timing cover gasket from the engine. He then attached a new timing cover gasket and reassembled the engine. Next, Barnhart performed the entire oil leak diagnostic test again to ascertain whether the leak was fixed. After this final test, Barnhart did not observe any dye-infused oil on the engine, and thus, he concluded that the engine was no longer leaking oil.

{¶ 7} When Nixon collected the car on September 7, 2003, a Pep Boys' employee told him that the oil leak was fixed. Nixon paid the $320.24 bill and returned the car to his aunt's home.

{¶ 8} That same day, Vaughn was driving to the east side of Columbus when she sensed something was wrong with her car. She pulled over, checked her oil level, and discovered that there was no oil in the engine. Surprised, she asked a passerby to check the oil level for her. That person also found that the car did not have any oil in it. The passerby added to the engine the three or four quarts of oil Vaughn had stored in her trunk, and told Vaughn that her engine was still a quart shy of full. Vaughn went to a gas station, purchased a quart of oil and added that oil to the engine. Vaughn then completed her errand and drove to Lancaster. While driving back to her home, Vaughn stopped at the Hamilton Road Pep Boys and asked them to check the oil level. A Pep Boys' employee told her that the car was a quart low, and he added a quart of oil to the engine.

{¶ 9} A day or two after her trip to Lancaster, Vaughn noticed a knocking noise coming from her engine. On September 19, 2003, she drove her car to Pep Boys, told an employee about the noise, and asked that a mechanic check the car. Upon hearing the noise, Jimmy McDowell, an ASE master technician, immediately deduced that a rod was knocking on the bottom of the engine. A Pep Boys' employee told Vaughn that her engine had thrown a rod and that she would need a new engine. The employee quoted a price of $3,781.09 to replace the engine.

{¶ 10} Vaughn was in a quandary. She did not have the money to replace the engine, but she knew her car would deteriorate if she left it idle throughout the winter. Finally, in early February 2004, Vaughn used a credit card to pay $3,019.66 for AA Engine Installers to replace her engine. While Vaughn was without the use of her car, she drove her neighbor's car and compensated her neighbor, Mabel Beach, with $50 a week.

{¶ 11} On January 29, 2004, Vaughn filed a suit against Pep Boys, in which she alleged that Pep Boys violated the CSPA and acted negligently when it performed work on her car. With regard to her CSPA claim, Vaughn specifically asserted that Pep Boys committed deceptive acts as defined in R.C. 1345.02(B)(1), (2), and (5) by representing:

(a) That the subject of the said consumer transaction ha[d] sponsorship, approval, performance characteristics, accessories, uses or benefits that it [did] not have;

(b) That the subject of the consumer transaction [was] of [a] particular standard, quality, grade, style, prescription, or model[,] and it [was] not;

(c) That the consumer transaction ha[d] been supplied in accordance with previous representations[,] and it ha[d] not.

(Complaint at ¶ 9.) Also, Vaughn asserted that Pep Boys committed a deceptive act as defined by Ohio Adm. Code109:4-3-05(D)(9), one of the rules the Attorney General adopted pursuant to R.C. 1345.05(B)(2), when it represented that it had made repairs and performed services, when it had not done so. Finally, Vaughn asserted Pep Boys violated the CSPA by maintaining a pattern of inefficiency and incompetency in repairing her car and in performing the repairs in an unworkmanlike manner.

{¶ 12} A jury trial on Vaughn's claims commenced on September 21, 2004. At trial, Vaughn, Nixon, and Barnhart testified regarding the events set forth above. Additionally, William Betzler, an expert witness Vaughn hired, testified regarding his October 13, 2003 inspection of the car, as well as the opinions he developed based upon that inspection and his review of the Pep Boys' work orders and invoices. Betzler opined that, given the fresh oil he observed on the underside of Vaughn's car, the engine was still leaking oil. Additionally, Betzler testified that the damage to Vaughn's car engine was caused by a lack of oil, and the lack of oil was due to Pep Boys' incompetence in failing to first find, and then to repair, the leak. Finally, Betzler testified that Pep Boys failed to perform in a workmanlike manner and that Pep Boys displayed a pattern of incompetency.

{¶ 13}

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Bluebook (online)
2006 Ohio 698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pep-boys-manny-v-vaughn-unpublished-decision-2-16-2006-ohioctapp-2006.