Another Fraud Lawsuit is Filed Against Alleged Car Restoration Scammer Shawn Harju

Better Business Bureau and FOX News report that car repair fraud is on the rise.  Now, federal authorities and the FBI are taking notice and victims are fighting back. The losses are in the millions and recovering the stolen or embezzled vehicles and the money is daunting. Most of the time consumers are victims who never recover and are only left with painful memories. 

Multiple lawsuits for fraud have been filed against a car restoration shop located in Pierce County, in the city of Gig Harbor, Washington. The restoration business that also sells camping gear is called Defenders Northwest, LLC.  It is operated by a husband-and-wife team, Michele and Brian Hall.  The lawsuits against the couple and their companies allege that the restoration shop’s proprietors orchestrated a multi-year fraud scheme to defraud their customers causing millions of dollars in damages. 

 The lawyers for the car restoration business called Defenders Northwest are LLC, Philip H. Lo, a partner in a large law firm known for its insurance defense work, and Shawn Harju of Federal Way, Washington. Lo and Harju apparently have also become part of the escalating controversy.  Ms. Harju has recently been sued for fraud in an unrelated case that involved alleged $20 Million invoice scam.  The civil where Harju is a defendant has been launched alongside a criminal case against Harju’s clients.  She has not been criminally charged at this time.  Philip H. Lo has been sanctioned by the court for refusing to allow for the inspection of the vintage car that his clients are alleged to have embezzled, also using fraudulent invoices.  According to sources for this editorial, Lo, a partner in a major insurance defense law firm, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, has according to sources resorted to threats and intimidation and may have defrauded the court in his efforts to aid Defenders Northwest in concealing their fraudulent scheme. Whether Mr. Lo is overstepping his role as counsel (paid by Liberty Mutual Insurance) from reckless client advocacy to unethical and possibly criminal behavior remains to be seen. Neither Philip Lo nor Shawn Harju responded to multiple inquiries for this editorial.

Photos of the car Defenders Northwest presented for inspection after being sanctioned and ordered to do so by the court. Experts concluded the car was not the customer’s car and was essentially worthless junk.

Authorities and victims are warning car collectors to be cautious and dig beyond fancy social media profiles or positive endorsements on google or yelp. Recently, a car enthusiast in Hawaii has been scammed, when he wired over $250,000 for a Mercedes Brabus G63, which was not delivered. The story explains that many positive reviews on social media could be fake.

Recently, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced that Clark P. Rittersbach, 49, of Cape Coral, Florida, was criminally charged with wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. According to the criminal charges, Rittersbach owned Concours Classic Motor Cars in Macedon, NY. The company, which claimed to specialize in the restoration and sale of vintage vehicles, has many long distance and international customers. Since at least 2017, Rittersbach has fraudulently billed at least three victims for restoration work on their antique vehicles that he either did not complete or did not perform at all, despite communicating to them via email and text message that he had. 

As a result of this criminal scheme, Rittersbach fraudulently obtained at least $1.15 million dollars from the three victims. The fraudulent restoration projects included 1964 Porsche 356C, which the victim never received, a 1932 Duesenberg Murphy, which was never acquired for the other victim. According to the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case, the fraudster claimed that he restored a 1926 Rolls Royce “Silver Ghost” which was a lie. The victim car collector hired a private investigators and attorneys. Last year a Lawton, Iowa based car restoration company was ordered to pay more than $7 million for breaching an agreement regarding the restoration of three vehicles.  According to a lawsuit filed with the district court for Woodbury County, a jury ruled in favor of a client of The Healey Werks Corp for $7,172,886.42 after the company allegedly breached an agreement regarding the sale of three Healey model cars.  The client, William Oesterle, filed a lawsuit against The Healey Werks Corp, ANCA 

In 2022 a Gig Harbor, Washington couple, Brian T. Hall and Michele A. Hall, were sued by victims of an alleged vintage car restoration scam for millions of dollars.  The victims claimed in court filings that the Halls and their Land Rover Defender restoration business, Defenders Northwest, LLC, swindled them through an eight-year fraudulent scheme that according to the legal filings involved fraudulent billing, delays predicated on incidents of third-party vandalism to the victims’ vehicles, bad faith, fraudulent mechanics’ liens, and ultimately a missing car. Allegedly, the Halls went on the offensive and launched harassing and defamatory attacks on the attorneys and their victims. The latest suit for fraud was filed in July, 2024 against Shawn Harju, an alleged partner in Defenders Northwest, and Halls’ part-time lawyer and yoga instructor.  This allegations in the lawsuit seem to parallel those in another fraud case filed against Harju. 

Court documents meticulously explain how Michele Hall and Brian Hall orchestrated a plan to defraud their customers out of their 1984 Land Rover Defender 130 vehicle that was entrusted to them for restoration more than 10 years ago.  Cursory review of Brian Hall and Defenders Northwest LLC did not show warning signs.  The Halls posted off road rallies, cars and coffee events, off road trips and do-it-yourself tips catering to the tightly knit vintage land Rover Defender community. Their Facebook and Instagram posts portrayed a wholesome image focusing on hobbyists and off-road enthusiasts. 

Defrauded customers filed an incident report with the local law enforcement and Washington State Office of the Attorney General, Bob Furguson. They also sued the alleged crooks. Thus far, plaintiffs’ insurance company that specializes in insuring vintage and collectible cars, Hagerty, has refused to further investigate the victims’ claims that Defenders Northwest embezzled the car entrusted to the rogue shop for restoration.