It looks like the legal spat between a New York body shop and a Mercedes-Benz dealership might be over.
Earlier this year, Gregory Coccaro Jr., owner of North State Custom in Bedford Hills, N.Y., dropped his multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz USA and Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge.
In his lawsuit, Coccaro Jr. alleged that Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge, part of the Celebrity Motor Car dealer group, demanded kickbacks and other concessions in exchange for renewing the shop’s Mercedes-Benz collision repair certification. Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge filed a counterclaim, contending that the allegations were false.
Coccaro Jr. and the dealership decided to settle their differences out of court.
The saga doesn’t end there, though. On April 2, Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge issued a press release declaring that Cocarro Jr. had retracted his claims and that the Mercedes-Benz dealership was “vindicated.” Coccaro objected to that characterization, leading to a second lawsuit against the dealership.
On May 14, Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge announced that the two parties have decided on an out-of-court settlement of the second lawsuit as well.
“The parties have agreed that those claims, in the recent press release, were overstated, and that North State Custom never retracted its claims,” the dealership said. “Instead, the parties agreed to mutually dismiss their claims and resolve their differences without the exchange of any money, and North State Custom has retained the right to obtain re-certification as an authorized Mercedes-Benz collision repair facility. The parties have agreed that they are both satisfied with the resolution.”
