We have learned that Tulsa TV news personality Chera Kimiko has sued David Stanley, commercial spokesman Rob Stanley, and David Stanley Chevrolet for breach of contract, fraud and negligence.
In the lawsuit, which was originally filed in June of 2016, Kimiko claims that she left a cushy $140,000-a-year job with News on 6 for an $8,000 per month gig as a multimedia spokesperson for David Stanley Chevrolet, only to find out months later the dealership was being sold and her employment terminated.
Kimiko alleges that while negotiating her employment terms, David and Rob Stanley were "contemporaneously engaged in discussions" to sell the dealership. She claims that instead of sharing this information with her, they fraudulently and deceptively withheld it like flood damage on a CarFax. As a result of this shady business practice, Kimiko now wants the Stanleys to pay her a whole lot of money. She's not the only one.
The lawsuit is located after the jump:
That was a fun read! It looks like David Stanley has gone from screwing customers to screwing the people they hire to help screw the customers. Seems totally fitting and appropriate! Now who's ready for a game of musical chairs?
As I mentioned, the lawsuit is kind of old. It was filed in 2016 and this is the first I've heard of it. The entire case has gone through a lengthy gauntlet of appeals of motions to dismiss appeals of motions. I'm not a lawyer – I just pretend to be one at bars – but it's almost like one side's legal strategy is to drag things out and make the case as costly as possible.
Naturally, David Stanley has a different interpretation of the events that transpired. Here's a snippet from the elegantly titled "Motion to Reconsider Order Denying Defendants' Motion To Dismiss Or, In the Alternative, Certify Order For Immediate Interlocutory Appeal" that David Stanley filed. In legal circles, they call it a "MTRODDMTDOITACOFIIA."
I'm not sure if "at-will" laws have a bearing on this case, but David Stanley's attorneys seem to have a good point. Where in the rulebook does it say employers have to disclose details about future acquisitions and mergers to new or potential hires? Yeah, it was an unprofessional dick move to not share that info and it sucks for Chera, but I guess that's the risk you take trusting a car dealership that's been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars in false advertising.
Since the case has been filed, Kimiko has resurfaced as a 5pm news anchor on KJRH Channel 2. Something tells me that job doesn't pay as well as her sweet $140K gig with KJRH. Although she seems nice, it's hard to feel sorry for Chera in all this. It's not like she's a widow who was offered a predatory loan to buy a broken down Kia Spectra. She was a well-paid and respected public figure who worked in TV news for 22 years, built and developed trust with her audience, and then jumped ship to help a shady car dealership exploit and profit from that trust. Instead of suing David Stanley, maybe she should read a book about Karma.
Anyway, here's a link to the OSCN file. As I mentioned, it's littered with a bunch of legal filings, delays, motions, etc. If any TLO Legal Moles want to let us know their interpretation of events in the comments, please do.
Also, it's worth noting that Kimiko's lawyer in this case is 2002 and 2018 Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Gary Richardson. Considering they look about as honest and predatory as group of David Stanley used car salesmen, I bet they're a good fit for the case:
