On March 28, 2018, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced it had filed a lawsuit in the Central District of California against an auto lender for allegedly repossessing the vehicles of members of the armed forces protected by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”), 50 U.S.C. § 3952. According to the complaint, which is based on a grievance filed with the DOJ by a servicemember, the lender repossessed the servicemember’s vehicle the day she began active military service. The DOJ alleges the lender did so without first obtaining a court order as required under SCRA. The DOJ also alleges the lender has a practice of improperly requiring servicemembers to submit their military orders directly to the lender, rather than independently accessing the servicemember database provided by the Department of Defense.
