57 car dealers, collision centers in California ordered to pay over environmental lawsuit

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A total of 57 car dealerships and collision centers in the state were ordered to pay nearly $3.5 million in civil penalties and other charges to settle an environmental protection lawsuit brought by eight California district attorneys.

All 57 of the defendants operate as subsidiaries of AutoNation, the country’s largest new car retailer. They were accused of illegally disposing of hazardous material and of violating laws related to the storage of hazardous material and the disposal of customer records in a lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the Alameda County district attorney said.

The case stemmed from a 2013 investigation by the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health that found hazardous waste violations inside the service departments of several dealerships.

District attorney investigators in Alameda and Santa Clara counties conducted a series of undercover inspections of the dealerships’ trash containers. They found that hazardous materials including motor oil, electronic waste and partially-full aerosols were improperly disposed of.

Invoices and other documents with personal customer information were also found in the trash, officials said, violating laws requiring shredding, redacting and erasing identifying information.

In addition to $2.1 million in civil penalties, the defendants agree to pay $380,000 in costs and to spend $900,000 on enhanced compliance with waste laws.

AutoNation dealerships in California will also have a full-time environmental director monitoring compliance training as a term of the settlement. The court also ordered AutoNation to train employees on customer privacy laws and to install shredding machines at each dealership.

The suit was brought by district attorneys in Alameda, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Placer, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego and Ventura counties, where the dealerships and collision centers are located.