A man in California has sued BMW and claimed the car manufacturer kept almost $25,000 in equity after the M5 Competition he was leasing was wrecked in a crash.

Alexander Russell signed a 36-month lease for a 2019 BMW M5 Competition in October 2019. At the time, the car was worth $115,816. Auto News reports that Russell was involved in a crash on February 14, 2022 that left the super sedan a total loss.

A lawsuit filed in the U.S. Central District of California asserts that the lease’s residual value was $81,589.57 but that the vehicle insurer, Safeco, had set the car’s market value at $106,178. Russell claims he should have been left with $24,589.40 in equity after the balance of the financing was repaid.

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Russell is seeking class-action status for himself and as many as 1,000 other BMW lessees that could have experienced something similar. The lawsuit states that “despite numerous attempts by Plaintiff’s attorneys to persuade Safeco to pay out the equity portion to Plaintiff, Safeco complied with BMW’s demands to forward the entire amount to [BMW Financial Services].”

The lawsuit adds that BMW Financial Services “made misleading statements” in March to Russell’s counsel when it claimed a total loss on the vehicle eliminated Russell’s ability to buy the leased vehicle and allowed BMW to cancel the lease.

The lawyer representing Russell, Leon Ozeran, says that while BMW could call in the lease due to the loss of collateral involved in the financing, Russell could pay off the balance of the loan and keep the vehicle, in addition to any equity left over.

“In a closed-end consumer vehicle lease, the consumer is always entitled to purchase the vehicle during the term of the lease, or at the end of the lease,” the lawsuit notes.

Russell has sued BMW for misrepresentation and deceit, breach of the implied promise of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, interference with contractual relations and potential economic advantage, unfair business practices in violation of California’s Business and Professional Code, and conversion.