An Oklahoma man, who is the first to take General Motors to court over its faulty ignition switches, saw his credibility called into serious question when lawyers for the automaker accused him of committing mortgage fraud.
The Detroit News (recapping a Bloomberg piece) has the full story on the courtroom battle between Robert Scheuer and GM.
From The Detroit News:
Robert Scheuer, a mail carrier who claims the defect disabled his air bag in a 2014 car wreck, blames GM for the eviction, arguing that memory loss he suffered in the accident caused him to misplace a $49,500 check for a down payment on the home in suburban Tulsa.
GM’s lawyers said they uncovered evidence that Scheuer, his wife and two children actually were kicked out of the house because a real estate agent found Scheuer had faked a $441,430.72 check stub from his federal government retirement account as “proof of funds” to close the sale.
According to The Detroit News, GM’s attorneys contend that Scheuer “misled his own counsel, as well as the court and the jury” when he allegedly lied about the purchase of his so-called “dream house.”
Again from The Detroit News:
Scheuer, 49, sued after his 2003 Saturn Ion flew off an Oklahoma highway and crashed into a tree in May 2014, leading to neck and back pain. GM argues the accident wasn’t serious enough to deploy the air bag, and that Scheuer’s injuries predated the crash.
Three weeks after the accident, Scheuer and his wife, purchased the home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, under a contract calling for $275,950 in cash, though no cash was ever provided and they were evicted in September 2014, GM said.
According to the report, the alleged fraud was exposed when the real estate agent that handled the sale of Scheuer’s home came forward when news of the trial became public.
