Hertz facing 100 new false arrest claims as lawyers prepare to take legal action

Hertz, the American car rental company, is facing fresh lawsuits related to false arrest complaints from customers. Lawyers are getting ready to file the new cases on behalf of the customers.

As per Fox Business, at least 100 new claims are set to be brought to the court in the coming weeks. The customers said that they have become victims of false arrest after renting a vehicle from Hertz.

One of the new cases involves Brittany Morgan and Jeremy Benjamin. The couple recounted their traumatic experience in Houston, Texas, when the police pulled them over and arrested them at gunpoint after renting a Ford Mustang at Hertz station located at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

"We showed the police the paperwork and told them we had obviously not stolen the car. We were stunned when the police told us that the license plate on our car was from another car that was reported stolen and that it was not even the license plate listed on our rental paperwork," Fox Business quoted the pair as saying in a legal declaration.

Morgan and Benjamin went on to say that they were enraged that something like that could happen to them. They added that they were dumbfounded to know that Hertz already has a similar case of renting out ‘stolen’ cars to its customers.

Another complainant in this new batch of lawsuits named Michael Okoasia said that he rented a 2019 Nissan Versa from the said car rental company at the Los Angeles International Airport Marriott Hotel in California. He was on his way to work as a music video director when 10 officers pulled him over and arrested him at gunpoint as well.

"Hertz had rented me the wrong car and then without any investigation reported the car I was driving stolen,” Okoasia said in his legal filing. “I was eventually let go, and the car towed, but not before a very public arrest in Hollywood and I had to tell the production team I had been arrested for being in possession of a stolen car."

The MV director that he also lost about $20,000 from the music video that he was not able to shoot, plus other expenses, including the airfare. It was reported that at least 230 similar cases have already been filed against Hertz in Delaware bankruptcy court, where the complainants are seeking more than $750 million in damages.

Finally, CBS News reported last month that Hertz’s CEO vowed to fix the issue after getting reports of false theft by customers. His declaration comes as the investigation of the claims has started.