Jury awards $1.05M in auto auction business dispute

In a case that remains under dispute, a city of St. Louis jury has awarded $1.05 million in damages to a Maryland Heights-based used car dealer it found liable for tortious interference with business expectancy, fraudulent misrepresentations and breach of fiduciary duty.

In its May 12 verdict, the jury determined that plaintiff J. Nuckolls Inc., doing business as Fenton Auto Sales, was entitled to $350,000 for each of the three claims. In late June, the defendants filed separate motions to amend the judgment; a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; and a motion for a new trial.

Plaintiff’s attorney Brandon Klar with Mathis, Marifian & Richter said the damages related to lost profitability from a business venture between the used car dealer and one of its wholesalers. Unbeknownst to the plaintiff, this wholesaler had purchased certain vehicles at the direction of defendant America’s Auto Auction St. Louis, Inc., and its representatives. The damages also included costs for post-sale inspections that were paid for with the plaintiff’s money but never actually performed.

Klar cited an initial settlement demand of $750,000 following the denial of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, followed by a final demand of $350,000 prior to a round of depositions in April.

Those depositions, Klar said, led to the discovery that defendant Todd Ritter “only purchased vehicles (from AAA St. Louis) in particular lanes or from lists provided by representatives of the auction house” in exchange for “direct incentivization.”

In its post-trial motions, which remain under review, the defendants argue that the jury’s total compensatory damages are “unlawfully duplicative,” since the theories of injury arise “from the same set of facts.”

Additionally, the defendants are seeking a new trial for three reasons:

• a denial by the court of requested jury instructions
• erroneously permitting the plaintiff to “amend its discovery responses, supplement its document production, identify a new witness and change its damages theory and calculation on the eve of trial.”
• further court error in denying the defendants an opportunity to depose Jon Nuckolls as the plaintiff’s corporate representative.

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$1.05 million jury verdict

Business/commercial

Breakdown and distribution of total value: $350,000 for tortious interference with business expectancy; $350,000 for fraudulent misrepresentations; and $350,000 for breach of fiduciary duty

Allocation of fault: jointly and severally to all four defendants

Venue: 22nd Circuit of the City of St. Louis

Case Number/Date: 2222-CC00679/May 12, 2025

Caption:  J. Nuckolls, Inc. d/b/a Fenton Auto Sales v. America’s Auto Auction St. Louis, Inc.; Todd Ritter; Brian Hockett; XLerate Group

Plaintiff’s attorney: Brandon Klar; Mathis, Marifian & Richter, St. Louis

Defendant’s attorneys: Kendra Simmons; Fredrikson & Byron, Des Moines, Iowa; Terrence Fleming, Ryan Young and W. Thomas Wheeler, Fredrikson & Byron, Minneapolis

Judge: Circuit Judge Michael Noble