Car dealership owner labeled "terrorist" by competitors wins court case - Polidicks

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/owner-car-dealership-labeled-taliban-toyota-wins-millions-004302989.html[/url] [release]MOBILE, Ala (Reuters) - The owner of a large southwest Alabama car dealership derided as "Taliban Toyota" by a competitor has been awarded $7.5 million in damages after a jury trial for his slander claim. Iranian-born Shawn Esfahani, owner of Eastern Shore Toyota in Daphne, Alabama, sought $28 million in compensatory and punitive damages from Bob Tyler Toyota, claiming employees at that Pensacola, Florida-based dealership falsely portrayed him as an Islamist militant to customers. "The feeling I received in the courtroom for the truth to come out was worth a lot more than any money anybody can give me," Esfahani told Reuters on Tuesday. Esfahani's lawsuit said that Bob Tyler sales manager Fred Kenner told at least one couple considering 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." Esfahani, a naturalized U.S. citizen, fled his native Iran in 1980 following the Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah and swept Shi'ite Muslim clergy to power, his lawsuit said. He opened his car dealership in 2007. The Taliban, by contrast, are hardline Islamists in the central Asian nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan who follow an austere interpretation of Islamic law. A Bob Tyler salesman was accused of telling the same couple that Esfahani was from Iraq and calling him a "terrorist" who put soldiers including the salesman's brother in harm's way. "(Esfahani) is funneling money back to his family and other terrorists. I have a brother over there and what you're doing is helping kill my brother," the salesman told the couple when he called them on the Eastern Shore sales floor, according to the suit. The jury deliberated for three hours before awarding Esfahani $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages on Monday evening. Bob Tyler's attorney Jeffrey Ingram could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, and Tyler and Kenner both declined to comment on the verdict through a dealership spokesman. Esfahani said the dollar amount awarded by the jury was irrelevant unless the case sets a precedent by which other business owners can seek recourse against tactics he considers "un-American." "This case didn't take aim at just Mr. Tyler," he said. "It was intended to address any other business that resorts to those kinds of actions to win at their game unfairly."[/release] Good on him.

Goddamn Alabama.

someone from a country where the majority are shia muslim obviously would be from the taliban which hates shia muslims and considers them infidels. nice one guys, really a credit to your education system!

He should have taken the slander and turned it against him by using it to sell cars: "AT CRAZY MOHAMMAD'S, WE'RE BLOWING AWAY HIGH PRICES" Cue tiny animated cars driving across the screen into the prices and blowing them into smaller ones. "SO GET HERE SUNNI, BECAUSE OUR PRICES ARE OUT OF SHI'ITE.

[QUOTE=thisispain;33090000]someone from a country where the majority are shia muslim obviously would be from the taliban which hates shia muslims and considers them infidels. nice one guys, really a credit to your education system![/QUOTE] Do other countries compulsory education teach the difference between the Shia and Sunni Islam? I mean you had a good point going there then you branch off into making some kind of political statement about education, but I dunno if you were talking on the state level or what.

[QUOTE=Mingebox;33090118]He should have taken the slander and turned it against him by using it to sell cars: "AT CRAZY MOHAMMAD'S, WE'RE BLOWING AWAY HIGH PRICES" Cue tiny animated cars driving across the screen into the prices and blowing them into smaller ones. "SO GET HERE SUNNI, BECAUSE OUR PRICES ARE OUR OF SHI'ITE.[/QUOTE] That would fuck everything up worse for him. But lulz.

$7.5 million in damages? The slander made him lose 7.5 million in car sales?

[QUOTE=Raidyr;33090135]Do other countries compulsory education teach the difference between the Shia and Sunni Islam? I mean you had a good point going there then you branch off into making some kind of political statement about education, but I dunno if you were talking on the state level or what.[/QUOTE] Not in the States. At my level at least. [editline]2nd November 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Midas22;33090172]$7.5 million in damages? The slander made him lose 7.5 million in car sales?[/QUOTE] Racial pride is worth 7.5 million in the states.

All the racist shit seems to happen in the South.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;33090135]Do other countries compulsory education teach the difference between the Shia and Sunni Islam? I mean you had a good point going there then you branch off into making some kind of political statement about education, but I dunno if you were talking on the state level or what.[/QUOTE] I know now we do, but in the past no. You could call 1950's US public school history as "The way use Angliosaxons want it".

[QUOTE=The Baconator;33090193]I know now we do, but in the past no. You could call 1950's US public school history as "The way use Angliosaxons want it".[/QUOTE] I didn't learn anything beyond the basics of Arab culture in my schools, and certainly nothing about the denominations of Islam.

[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;33089950]Goddamn Alabama.[/QUOTE] What? He was able to win a case there. I'm actually surprised at the ruling.

Muslim/Arab discrimination is a fucking awful problem, probably mostly due to Fox news and other war propaganda.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;33090135] I mean you had a good point going there then you branch off into making some kind of political statement about education, but I dunno if you were talking on the state level or what.[/QUOTE] it's not really a political statement it's more frustration at the fact that people are being taught about present history in a proper manner.

[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;33090191]All the racist shit seems to happen in the South.[/QUOTE] I live in the south unfortunately. And just about everywhere I've been there's been some racist of some sort.

[QUOTE=Midas22;33090172]$7.5 million in damages? The slander made him lose 7.5 million in car sales?[/QUOTE]In Alabama he probably lost even more.

[QUOTE=Midas22;33090172]$7.5 million in damages? The slander made him lose 7.5 million in car sales?[/QUOTE] At a car dealership that isn't unreasonable when you factor in the location, MOBILE ALAMABA. Loss of sales + interest on those sales, + cost of keeping workers there with nothing to do. It adds up fast

Normally when you hear a story about a lawsuit it's really lame but this guy just got bitch slapped.

[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;33089950]Goddamn Alabama.[/QUOTE] If you READ the man who started this was from FLORIDA. Christ.