In Formula 1, the first driver you have to beat in order to prove your worth is your teammate. Likewise, in the car selling industry the fiercest competitors are dealerships that sell cars from the same brand.
There are, however, certain boundaries that cannot be crossed. Toyota, in particular, does have enough problems of its own and the last thing it needs is the company’s dealers slandering each other.
Employees from Bob Tyler Toyota in Pensacola, Florida, scoffed the Iranian-born Shawn Esfahani, owner of Eastern Shore Toyota in Daphne, Alabama, by portraying him as an Islamist militant to customers.
Bob Tyler Toyota sales manager Fred Kenner reportedly told one couple considering a car buying from Eastern Shore Toyota in 2009 that Esfahani was of Middle Eastern descent and was “helping fund the insurgents there and is also laundering money for them.”
Moreover, the same couple was told by one of the salesmen that “[Esfahani] is funneling money back to his family and other terrorists. I have a brother over there and what you’re doing is help kill my brother.”
Naturally, the “Taliban Toyota” dealer, as he was called, sued for slander, asking for $28 million in compensation and punitive damages. The jury ruled in favor of Esfahani and awarded him $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages on Monday.
“The feeling I received in the courtroom for the truth to come out was worth a lot more than anybody can give me”, said Esfahani who is a naturalized U.S. citizen that fled Iran in 1980 after the Islamic revolution and opened his Toyota dealership in 2007.
Story references: Reuters
