Falsafi

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff worked as a finance manager at HOI’s Mercedes-Benz dealership in Buena Park for approximately a year, beginning in October 2018 and continuing through November 11, 2019, when the company terminated his employment. Plaintiff’s job duties included finalizing car

1 AutoNation, Inc. is referred to in this opinion as AutoNation.

Collectively, AutoNation and HOI are referred to as defendants.

2 sales, ensuring all paperwork was legally compliant, selling further financial products to customers, obtaining lender approval, and ensuring the necessary documents were sent to the necessary institutions so the transactions could be completed. Plaintiff filed his complaint in this action on January 15, 2021, against both HOI and AutoNation. After the case was removed to federal court and then remanded, plaintiff limited his claims to whistleblower retaliation under Sarbanes-Oxley and the CFPA, claiming defendants engaged in consumer and bank fraud by forging customers’ signatures and falsifying customers’ income. Defendants filed a joint answer to the complaint on September 24, 2021. The jury trial began in early December 2023. On December 20, 2023, at…