No, you have been identified as a possible Plaintiff in a lawsuit. As a Plaintiff, you may have a legal claim against NextGear Capital, Inc. (“NextGear”), formerly known as Dealer Services Corporation. NextGear is an automotive finance company that has provided revolving line-of-credit financing to you and other used car dealers under contracts known as floor plan agreements. You have not been sued.

Class action lawsuits are cases where one or more parties represent all of the members of a large group who have been harmed in the same way by the same party.

The Court decided that the Plaintiffs’ claims against NextGear may proceed as a class action because the Plaintiffs have satisfied the requirements of federal law governing class actions. The Court determined that a class action would be better and more efficient than requiring thousands of used car dealers to file individual lawsuits against NextGear.

Three Plaintiffs - Red Barn Motors, Inc., Platinum Motors, Inc., and Mattingly Auto Sales, Inc. filed this lawsuit against NextGear, claiming that NextGear charged interest on money that NextGear had not yet actually paid.

Plaintiffs are asking the Court to find that NextGear wrongly charged interest on loans made to used car dealers and, as a result, the used car dealers, that is, the Plaintiffs, suffered damages. The amount of these money damages will be determined at a trial or in a settlement and may include the costs of bringing the lawsuit, as well as pre-judgment and post-judgment interest on all damages.

No, the Court has not decided whether Plaintiffs or NextGear is correct or whether the used car dealers have suffered any damages. The Court has made a number of legal rulings in the case, however, and you may see those rulings, along with the key pleadings filed by the parties at the following website maintained by the Class Notice Administrator at www.donlinrecano.com/rbm.

By certifying this lawsuit as a class action and issuing notice to Class Members, the Court is not suggesting that the Plaintiffs will win or lose the case. The purpose of a class action is to decide those issues for all Class Members in one legal proceeding.

NextGear’s business records show that you either borrowed money from NextGear or a company affiliated with NextGear. It may have been many years ago. NextGear used to be known as Dealer Services Corporation, and you may have had your agreement with Dealer Services Corporation. Even if you do not remember the agreement, you may still have a claim and you may be entitled to damages.

No, there is no need for you to appear in Court. Even if you decide to remain a member of this lawsuit, it is extremely unlikely that you will ever have to go to Court.

The Court has appointed several lawyers to represent Class Members. These lawyers are referred to as Class Counsel and they have experience in prosecuting complex cases on behalf of plaintiffs. The Court has determined that the Class Counsel are qualified and that they have ably represented the interests of Class Members to date.

The Class Counsel are:

CATHERINE E. LASKY
KERRY A. MURPHY
LASKY MURPHY LLC
715 Girod Street, Suite 250
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

GLADSTONE N. JONES, III
LYNN E. SWANSON
JONES, SWANSON, HUDDELL &
GARRISON, L.L.C.
601 Poydras Street, Suite 2655
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

CASSIE E. FELDER
THE CASSIE FELDER LAW FIRM
7515 Jefferson Hwy., #313
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Telephone: (504) 232-1733

JAMES M. GARNER
RYAN D. ADAMS
SHER GARNER CAHILL RICHTER KLEIN & HILBERT, L.L.C.
909 Poydras Street, Suite 2800
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112

KATHLEEN ANN DELANEY
DELANEY & DELANEY LLC
3646 North Washington Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46205
Telephone: (317) 920-0400

The Class Counsel are working on a contingency-fee basis. You will not have to pay the lawyers anything if there is no recovery. The Class Counsel will get paid only if they get money for the Class, whether by a favorable judgment or settlement. If that occurs, they will ask the Court to be awarded their fees and expenses. The Court will only award attorneys’ fees and expenses that it finds are reasonable. If the Court grants the Class Counsel’s request, the fees and expenses would be deducted from any money obtained for the Class unless a settlement provides otherwise.

If you want to stay in the lawsuit and remain a member of the Class, you do not need to do anything. By doing nothing, you keep the possibility of getting money or benefits that may come from a class trial or a settlement. You cannot, however, recover or try your claims twice; so, by participating in the class action, you give up any rights to sue NextGear individually for the legal claims in this case.

You must ask to be excluded if you want to sue NextGear on your own, or if you do not want the right to participate in any recovery that might occur in the class action. If you have already filed an individual lawsuit and want to proceed in your own lawsuit, rather than through this class action, you will have to ask to be excluded.

If you ask to be excluded, you will not receive any money that is later obtained in a class trial or a settlement. But, you keep any rights to sue NextGear separately about the legal claims in this case if you choose to do so. You will need your own lawyer .

If you choose to be excluded and to pursue a lawsuit individually, you may have to hire your own lawyer, respond to discovery, testify, and appear and prove your claims at trial.

To opt out of being a Class Member, you must timely return a written request to be excluded from the Class, which must include all of the following: (i) your name; (ii) your current mailing address; and (iii) the statement “I want to be excluded from the Red Barn vs. NextGear case.”

To be timely, a written request to be excluded from the Class must be postmarked on or before June 26, 2020, and must be mailed, with sufficient postage prepaid and affixed, to:

Red Barn v. NextGear
c/o Donlin, Recano & Company, LLC
P.O. Box 2053
New York, NY 10272-2042

Correspondence sent by hand delivery or overnight mail should be sent to:

Donlin, Recano & Company, LLC
Re: Red Barn v. NextGear
c/o Angeion Group
200 Vesey Street, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10281

No money is available now. No money will be available unless and until the parties reach a settlement or the Plaintiffs prevail at trial and following all appeals. There is no guarantee that money will ever be obtained. If it is, you will be notified of your entitlement to recovery and how to obtain it. To be eligible for any recovery as part of this class action lawsuit, you must remain in the class. If you remain in the class and no benefits are obtained, you will have no right to seek recovery of any damages or other relief from NextGear in another lawsuit based on the same claims.

If you remain a Class Member, and Plaintiffs obtain money as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to receive any share recovered on your behalf.

If you have any questions or require additional information, you should contact the Class Notice Administrator, Donlin Recano, which can answer questions about your status as a Class Member, the procedures for opting out, deadlines, and the status of the case, by one of the following means:

By phone at 1-866-745-0266
By email at rbminfo@angeiongroup.com


PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE COURT CLERK REGARDING THIS MATTER