Used online car retailer Carvana has had its fair share of controversy over the years, including being accused of accounting manipulation and unstable loans. But a new wrongful death lawsuit could be the biggest smear on its reputation yet, with the plaintiff alleging that the retailer must take at least partial responsibility for selling a car that caused the carbon monoxide poisoning and death of 21-year-old student Allwyn Thompson Jr. Morgan & Morgan is the legal firm filing the lawsuit, which alleges Thompson was sold a 2015 Kia Forte with a lethal exhaust leak.
Numerous Inspection and Repair Companies Named in New Lawsuit
Kia
The lawsuit alleges that Carvana sold the Forte with an exhaust leak to a dealership in West Palm Beach, CaRite of Oakland Park, and this dealer sold the car to Thompson Jr. The lawsuit goes on to claim that several inspection and repair companies, including Midas, either failed to detect the exhaust leak or to inform Thompson of the issue, despite four separate inspections over the course of seven months, when the vehicle was brought to various entities for servicing and repairs. On the morning of June 29, 2024, Thompson Jr. was found dead in the vehicle, which was parked outside a club in Fort Lauderdale that he had visited the night before; an autopsy revealed that carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death. Basically, the lawsuit alleges that if these multiple inspections had warned the student of the issue and its dangers, Thompson Jr. may still be alive.
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“Failing to detect an exhaust leak is one of the most dangerous errors an automotive technician can make,” said Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan and attorney Kris Bonham. “There were four separate inspections of this Kia before it killed Allwyn, and the lawsuit states that none of the defendants did their duty to protect him. These collective failures are indefensible, and we will not rest until we have justice for this family.”
New Defendants Added After Initial Lawsuit
The 68-page lawsuit, Thompson v. DMM Motors LLC et al., was filed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida, in 2024, but last month, Carvana, Royalton Motors, Paul’s Mobile Auto Service, Midas International, Midas of Lake Worth, and Bolt On Technology LLC were added as defendants. All of these entities are culpable of negligence, claims the lawsuit, because audible and visible exhaust damage should have been evident, and that evidence should have been shared with Thompson Jr. The lawsuit says that a service at Midas Lake Worth in May 2024, using a digital checklist system developed by Bolt On Technology, did not require technicians to check for exhaust leaks or carbon monoxide risks. If it had, the tragedy two months later may not have occurred. The case is currently pending.
