Bart Reagor and Rick Dykes Claim Ford Might Have Committed Misconduct
Bart Reagor and Rick Dykes on Friday (January 25th) filed a motion that said Ford might have committed misconduct, which would invalidate their claims.
KAMC News reports that originally, Ford sued Reagor Dykes along with Bart Reagor and Rick Dykes personally. Most of the Reagor Dykes companies have filed for bankruptcy after Ford accused them of fraud and default.
At stake in the short-term is a legal maneuver known as summary judgement, which would bring the case to a close without ever going to trial.
Ford's argument in favor of the summary judgement is that Reagor and Dykes personally guaranteed to pay back Ford if their business failed. Reagor and Dykes point to previous court cases which say misconduct "voids the contract of guaranty..."
Reagor and Dykes claim that former RD CFO Shane Smith worked for the company for 11 years but before that, worked for Ford. While he was CFO he maintained a friendship with a Ford Motor Credit employee.
Reagor and Dykes are entitled to know if the fraud was in part an inside job.
Court records said in part:
“Moreover, based on the above-referenced facts, it is certainly plausible that Ford Credit (through Byrd) participated in the deepening insolvency of the Reagor-Dykes dealerships by lending more money when there was no hopes of the borrowing entities being able to repay. Ford Credit then protected itself by taking all of the assets of the dealerships as collateral, while Reagor and Dykes relied on the Ford Credit’s actions of lending more money as signifying the financial health of the Reagor-Dykes dealerships.Ford Credit thus profited by its continued dealing, but the dealerships failed, potentially leaving the loss on the guarantors [Bart Reagor and Rick Dykes].”
Reagor and Dykes are not yet asking that a judge throw out Ford's claims, but instead are asking that the case not be cut short with a summary judgement.
Ford has been ordered to address the issue of summary judgement no later than February 4th.