Jenelle Welling of San Francisco's Green & Jigarjian and co-counsel Patricio T. D. Barrera of Century City's Marcin & Barrera have announced the filing of a class action against Southern California's Rusnak Automotive Group. The complaint alleges violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, the Unfair Competition Act and the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act.

Welling and Barrera allege that Rusnak led consumers to believe that car parts, including the wheel/tire packages the dealership installed on new BMW cars, were genuine products approved by the manufacturer. In fact, the parts Rusnak installed were stock aftermarket replicas. Rusnak charged consumers the manufacturer's list price for the generic parts, but failed to advise them of the switch, according to Welling and Barrera.

"The car manufacturers' warranties don't even cover these impostor parts, a fact that Rusnack kept consumers in the dark about," Welling claimed. "Nor did the dealer provide the applicable warranty information that did cover the stock parts."

Rusnak Automotive Group, the defendant in this large class action, operates 15 dealerships in Southern California and represents 11 different automotive makes.

"All counsel on this case are looking forward to securing fairness for consumers," Welling said. "And I’m thrilled to have Pat on board as our bulldog litigator."

Counsel have demanded damages including restitution to consumers, disgorgement of profits, actual damages, punitive damages, a notice to consumers, a cease and desist order fees, costs, and interest. The plaintiff has demanded a jury trial.