Texas plumber Mark Oberholtzer never imagined his small company would become the subject of international news coverage and endless jokes, or that he and his staff would be inundated with phone calls accusing them of supporting Islamic terrorists.

But that’s exactly what happened after he sold a 2005 Ford F-250 bearing his company’s name and phone number to AutoNation Ford Gulf Freeway in Houston. For reasons that remain unclear, the decal was not removed and the vehicle made its way to Syria, where jihadis equipped it with a massive gun and appeared with it in photos and video footage circulated online.

Oberholtzer’s travails were covered by "The Colbert Report" on its final (and most-viewed) episode in December 2014, and the clip was rebroadcast during the Emmy Awards ceremony in September. Calls from news outlets and TV programs flowed in, the FBI paid him a visit and he briefly closed up shop.

Oberholtzer finally had enough last week, his lawyer Craig Eiland says, and he filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million from the car dealership, alleging negligence, fraud, libel per se, invasion of privacy by appropriation of name and violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Mark-1 Plumbing truck making another appearance. Original owner must feels #coincidental-regret pic.twitter.com/Yhb7ZWsq47 — Nate G (@kwnate) July 2, 2015

“He was tired of being called an ISIS supporter and a terrorist supporter,” Eiland says, using a common acronym for the Islamic State group. “He decided to take action to clear his name and make the responsible party responsible.”

Astonishingly, Eiland says, when major news outlets publish pictures of the truck, Mark-1 Plumbing is harassed by people who seem to think the company willfully supplied the fighters with the vehicle.

That happened again, he says, after the most recent wave of press coverage prompted by the lawsuit, which included a write-up in the Houston Chronicle and a story in the New York Post.

“One person called his secretary an 'ISIS whore' – that was today,” Eiland says. The irate caller, he says, told the secretary that the company’s staff should not be “claiming to be Americans – if they want to support ISIS, they should leave America.”

Watch: Colbert Covers Mark-1 Truck in Syria:



“And that was after he took this action to clear his name,” Eiland says. “It’s not funny when you’re on the receiving end of it.” Some calls have been recorded, he says, and may be offered as evidence.

The jihadis seen with the truck reportedly were associated with the Ansar al-Deen Front, not the more famous Islamic State group.

According to the lawsuit, Oberholtzer attempted to remove the decal himself while paperwork for his trade-in for a newer F-250 was processed in October 2013. A salesman told him not to remove the decal, as the company would do it, the lawsuit says.

Even if the oral commitment cannot be proven, Eiland says, it’s standard industry practice to remove logos from used cars, and the company’s still liable.

AutoNation spokesman Marc Cannon says the company is not commenting on specific facts alleged in the lawsuit, pending further internal investigation, but that they view the litigation as overkill.

“A lawsuit way after the fact and that type of money sounds a little extreme,” Cannon says. “It’s very unfortunate the customer has gone through this [but] we’re just not sure why it’s all the sudden now coming to this situation.”

Cannon says the truck was bought by AutoNation before promptly being sent off to an auction, after which he’s heard it was sold several more times. The lawsuit says it was shipped to Mersin, Turkey, in December 2013.

“Clearly there was miscommunication,” Cannon says. “It went to auction with the understanding the markings would come off. Obviously that did not happen.”

Cannon says the company reached out to Oberholtzer before he filed the lawsuit. The complaint filed in court, however, says the company “expressed not the slightest regret, concern, or even compassion with Mark’s horrific situation.”

Mark-1's attorney foresees a defense effort to invoke an arbitration clause in the car's sales contract, which would require out-of-court arbitration rather than a jury judgment. But he argues it doesn't apply in this situation.

Footage: Jihadis Use Mark-1 Truck in Northern Syria:



“This is an unusual case,” says Neal Newman, a professor who specializes in business law at the Texas A&M University School of Law. “But after reading the complaint, I am sympathetic to the plumber and I do believe he has some credible claims."

Newman says even if there’s no proof of an oral contract on removal of the decal, Oberholtzer still could win on the grounds that “business protocol, business practices would dictate that they do that – so I don’t see that as a big sticking point.”

“The biggest thing would be demonstrating damages,” Newman says.

Eiland says he and his client have no idea about the truck's current whereabouts. But they're worried more photos may be posted from the battlefront, and that more people who see the photos will reach the conclusion the Texas company is helping terrorists.