Young

FACTS

Plaintiffs’ Vehicle Purchase and Defendants’ Police Report Plaintiffs were in the business of purchasing vehicles in the United States and exporting them through others to China. Instead of purchasing directly from dealerships, plaintiffs used brokers or other parties to acquire the vehicles. They believed it was legal to use these “straw buyers.” In 2016, plaintiffs purchased a Mercedes-Benz from Fred Cerritos, the owner of Source Specialist. Source Specialist had paid $1,000 to another individual, Samia Abuhamad, to lease the subject vehicle from defendant Keyes European, a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Van Nuys. Source Specialist told Abuhamad it would make payments on the lease for three months and then purchase the vehicle with title in its name.

1 All further statutory references are to the Civil Code unless otherwise stated.

3 After Abuhamad leased the vehicle, Source Specialist delivered the vehicle to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs paid $88,804 to Source Specialist but were never given title to the vehicle. At the time, they were unaware Source Specialist did not own the vehicle. Plaintiffs testified they later filed a police report and informed the general sales manager…