WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Good News Garage Scores $100K Gift

Good News Garage Scores $100K Gift

Burlington, Vermont - September 25, 2009

The Good News Garage has received a gift of $100,000 as the result of a legal settlement.

The garage rehabs cars and then donates them to low-income Vermonters who need transportation to get to work. The gift amounts to part of a settlement from a class action lawsuit against several car paint companies that were accused of overcharging for their product.

Dennis Johnson, a partner with the Johnson & Perkinson law firm, told reporters, "We have chosen an automobile charity, the Good New Garage, because we admire the work that they do, and it is related to the alleged wrong in the case."

John Simson, a board member of the Good News Garage, added, "This money is going to be directly used in our car repair operation right here in this room. And so it's a great opportunity for us."

The same kind of lawsuit was filed in several other states, including Massachusetts and Maine -- where consumers claimed the paint companies overcharged for their product.

In Vermont, Johnson said a Chittenden Superior Court judge determined that it was too expensive to track down each and every consumer who may have paid too much in an indirect manner for the paint -- for instance, in connection with an automobile accident. And so the winners of the lawsuit were allowed to devote a quarter of the money to a charity related to the car paint business.

Andy Potter - WCAX News