LOS ANGELES (Sept. 13, 2010)—A California Appeals Court in Los Angeles has denied American Seashores Ltd.'s appeal of a 2008 summary judgment against it, thereby affirming a lower court's ruling that the OTR tire importer/distributor owes a Canadian tire distributor more than $1.5 million in damages and costs.
The case dates to February 2008 when USA Tire Marketing Inc. of Granby, Quebec, filed suit in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, seeking costs for breach of contract and fraud related to defective tires and incomplete shipments, according to court documents.
American Seashores is a company that distributed Colorado-brand OTR tires made in China. It also operated as American Tire Corp., which later changed its name in 2009 to Colorado Tire Corp. after being sued for trade name infringement by American Tire Distributors Inc.
The trial court entered a default judgment against American Seashores on Oct. 23, 2008, after American Seashores failed to reply to any of the court's summons, according to court documents.
American Seashores appealed the case in March 2009 to the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division Three, claiming the lower court's summary judgment against it was the result of “surprise, inadvertence or excusable neglect.”
In his Aug. 26 decision, Appeals Court Judge Peter J. Meeka said, “… we perceive no abuse of discretion and affirm the order.”
Despite the ruling, USA Tire Marketing is not hopeful it can collect any of the damages awarded, because American Seashores essentially has no assets, the firm's attorney, Elkanah Burns, said.
Neither American Seashores nor its attorneys could be reached for comment.