West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced
today that Liberty Mutual and Greg Chandler’s Frame & Body in St. Albans will
halt their use of "junkyard parts" in repairs of new vehicles.

The terms of the Preliminary Injunction Order with Liberty Mutual
and the body shop provide that the defendants will immediately
cease repairing vehicles that are three years old or less with salvaged
parts until all issues raised in Attorney General McGraw’s complaint
are fully resolved. Liberty Mutual also agreed that it would provide
the State with a list of all West Virginia consumers whose vehicles were
repaired illegally within the last three years using salvaged parts.

"It’s important to notify West Virginians who have been victimized by
Liberty Mutual’s unlawful policy," Attorney General McGraw said.
"Consumers likely have no idea their vehicles were repaired with
junkyard parts."

In one case, Kanawha County’s Regina Anderson filed a complaint with the
Attorney General’s office in December 2011 after experiencing problems
with her 2009 Chevrolet Aveo, which was repaired by the body shop in the
fall of 2011. When the vehicle was returned to her after repairs, Anderson noticed "the rear hatch did not line up and there was a gap
between the driver’s side hatch and the quarter panel big enough to put
my fingers in."

Anderson reviewed her invoice which showed that "like-kind and quality"
parts were used to replace the driver’s side quarter panel. It wasn’t
until she saw news coverage about Attorney General McGraw’s lawsuit
against Liberty Mutual that she realized her car had been repaired with
junkyard parts.

"State law requires insurance companies and body shops to secure a
consumer’s written authorization before repairing a new vehicle with
salvaged parts," Attorney General McGraw said. "Liberty Mutual
intentionally withheld this material information. Consumers had no
notice that their vehicles had not been repaired with new parts."