GARDNERVILLE — Legal troubles added up to the closure of Minden scooter manufacturer GoPed last week, according to a statement issued by the company’s attorney.
Genoa attorney William D. McCann said Monday he filed an amended complaint on behalf of GoPed founder and inventor Steven J. Patmont in Douglas County District Court to set aside a $27 million New Jersey Judgment for malicious prosecution and abuse of process.
The company previously filed suit against Amazon.com because it withheld $328,000 in late charges and payments.
GoPed was forced into Chapter 7 due to the initial lawsuit and couldn’t produce the units required by Amazon.
“Some of the penalties imposed represented the full value of the units,” said Patmont “We had not agreed to anything like that.”
McCann said the lawsuit for fraud and violation of the RICO Act against Amazon is ongoing in the Federal District Court in Reno.
“It is really an outrage that unethical out of state companies are allowed to enrich themselves at the expense of Nevada jobs,” Patmont said. “As a result of sheer greed, good paying Nevada jobs have been lost. And an award-winning family enterprise that began in a garage in 1986 is now destroyed.”
