Fuccillo lawsuit plaintiffs awarded $160 each
More than 5,300 people who bought cars from the Fuccillo Automotive Group will get a not-so-huge $160 payment under a class-action lawsuit settlement.
A court-approved federal court settlement requires the Fuccillo Automotive Group, also known as It’s Huge Inc., to pay about $1.6 million — more than $850,000 to those who joined the lawsuit class and another $750,000 to attorneys.
Heidi Seekamp, an Albany-area woman, sued the western New York car dealerships in 2009. Seekamp, who’d bought a car from a Fuccillo dealership in 2007, alleged that she was sold an overly costly and illegal theft-prevention package with the car.
The Fuccillo company admitted no wrongdoing under the settlement, approved late last year in federal court in Albany.
Seekamp receives $10,000 under the settlement, and the other 5,300 — all of whom purchased a $295 theft-protection package with their cars — will receive $160.
Seekamp alleged that the Auto-Theft Security Discount package that came with her car was illegal.
For one, she alleged, a theft protection measure — the etching of the vehicle identification number on a window — was not part of a New York-recognized insurance policy, as required.
The package included the vehicle identification number etched onto the car window. That, Seekamp contended, violated New York insurance laws.
Also, the etching only cost $20 to $30, while buyers were charged the $295, she alleged.
Some buyers were also illegally induced “into drastically overpaying for a 3-year/$2,000 insurance policy,” she alleged.
The Fuccillo group no longer sells the theft-protection package. The lawsuit identified 18 Fuccillo dealerships, including ones in Greece and Seneca Falls.
Lawyers involved in the litigation could not be reached Saturday.
GCRAIG@DemocratandChronicle.com