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"                      <p class=\"imgtitle\">Miller</p>           DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced on Monday that he has obtained a judgment against a Louisiana-based advertising company and its president for allegedly violating Iowa's Consumer Fraud Act.<br /> <br />The judgment settles a consumer fraud lawsuit the Consumer Protection Division filed earlier this year against Smart Automotive Group and its president, Bernard Burst III.<br /> <br />The suit alleged that Burst and his company used deceptive, \"false premise\" advertising to help certain Iowa automobile dealers sell used vehicles.<br /> <br />Miller alleged that the mailer and newsprint ads they sent were designed to trick consumers into believing that these used vehicles were arriving from outside sources at cut-rate prices. Phrases such as \"Seized and Repossessed Vehicle Event,\" \"Statewide Used Vehicle Liquidation\" and \"Emergency Disposal Event\" were often used.<br /> <br />\"The truth is that the vehicles were the dealers' regular used vehicle inventories; they were not 'specially delivered' to the dealers by anyone,\" Miller said.<br /> <br />The suit further alleged that the defendants used misleading tactics, such as scratch-off prize cards, which showed every recipient was a winner. Miller called these \"a subterfuge designed to trick consumers into visiting the dealership.\"<br /> <br />The consumers, when visiting the dealership, were then allegedly approached with undesired sales pitches. Miller alleged that Smart Automotive sometimes sent in sales teams that used high-pressure sales tactics to sell consumers vehicles under false pretenses.<br /> <br />The judgment bars the company from selling advertising packages to Iowa car dealers in the future. Smart Automotive Group and Burst were also fined $20,000 each, with the payment suspended for the company and $5,000 suspended for Burst. The defendants are also required to pay all costs associated with the litigation.<br /> "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://legalnewsline.com/stories/510523704-ad-company-banned-from-selling-to-iowa-car-dealers>