Hertz ordered to unseal documents pertaining to false police reports

By CARESSE JACKMAN

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    KNOXVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Guns were drawn in a Walmart parking lot. You can hear an officer speaking to the driver.

“Hands right now! Hands!!” the officer said.

“I’m with my wife,” the man in the video replies to the officer a few seconds later.

The video obtained by News4 Investigates took place in 2020. It shows the moment Knoxville Police stopped Jennifer Rogers and her husband from stealing a Hertz rental car.

The officers went inside to get Jennifer, who was shopping at the time.

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Jennifer said.

Officer: “The vehicle’s registered as stolen.”

Jennifer: “It’s a rental!”

Officer: “Yeah!!”

Jennifer Rogers said they paid for the rental, but Hertz said that it was never returned.

“According to Hertz, I was a menace to society and needed to be kept in jail,” Jennifer Rogers said.

Rogers spent 16 days in custody, triggering a chronic medical condition, leading her to have seizures and a stroke while in custody. An emotional and traumatizing experience, she said, will stay with her for life.

“Innocent until proven guilty is a great saying, but it’s not necessarily how you’re treated,” Rogers said.

It’s a story that we’ve heard several times. Customers renting Hertz vehicles, stopped by police, and accused of stealing vehicles they say they paid for.

In court this month, a Delaware Bankruptcy Court judge ruled that Hertz must unseal redacted documents, which show the company filed over 3,300 reports each year for the past 6 years, charging customers with theft.

It’s a number attorney Francis Maloify said is far bigger than the 230 people they’re currently representing in a lawsuit against Hertz.

“They’re following unverified police reports when they lose a car, misplace a car, or just simply because they don’t want to do an investigation they’re supposed to do. And as a result, you have good people, going to jail. Wrongfully! And lives are being destroyed,” Maloify said.

Hertz argued that releasing these numbers would tarnish their brand and make it harder for them to compete with their competitors, but the judge rejected that argument.

For Rogers, she said the case is a step towards getting justice, validating the nightmare she’s been living with for 2 years.

“I just want them to admit what they did to me. And to these other people. I want them to say they were wrong, and I want them to say they’re sorry,” Rogers said.

Rogers’ charges were later dismissed.

Attorneys for the customers also plan on meeting with five congressional leaders this week, hoping to shed more light on this issue in D.C.

Hertz previously released this statement regarding the lawsuit, saying:

“Hertz cares deeply about our customers, and we successfully provide rental vehicles for tens of millions of travelers each year. Unfortunately, in the legal matters being discussed, the attorneys have a track record of making baseless claims that blatantly misrepresent the facts. The vast majority of these cases involve renters who were many weeks or even months overdue returning vehicles and who stopped communicating with us well beyond the scheduled due date. Situations where vehicles are reported to the authorities are very rare and happen only after exhaustive attempts to reach the customer.”

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