Woman arrested after business rents out car reported stolen
A Clark County woman’s lawsuit claims she was arrested after a Henderson business rented her friend a car that it had previously reported stolen.
The woman, Joanna Currie, filed the lawsuit this week in Clark County District Court against Enterprise Car Sales. Currie declined to comment, but her attorney, Roy Bumbasi, said his client is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her arrest.
“She spent two nights in jail not knowing when she’d be able to come home to her child here in Las Vegas,” he said. “It’s just crazy because nobody would ever think to ask their rental car company whether the car they rented is stolen.”
According to the complaint, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, 1050 W. Warm Springs Road, reported one of its rental vehicles stolen on April 6, and when the vehicle was returned, the business failed to notify authorities. The vehicle was rented to another customer on July 3, with a return date of July 24.
On July 18, the customer let Currie, her friend, drive the car for a few days in Ontario, California, and Currie “was stopped by the Ontario Police Department due to the vehicle being listed as stolen,” according to the complaint. Currie was arrested on suspicion of possessing a stolen vehicle, was taken into custody and now faces criminal charges.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car did not respond to requests for comment.
Currie is accusing Enterprise of gross negligence, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is seeking more than $105,000 in damages.
Bumbasi said he is working to get Currie’s criminal charges dropped.
“Enterprise just needs to tell Ontario it was a mistake and the car wasn’t actually stolen, but they haven’t done that yet,” Bumbasi said, adding that he expects the charges to be dropped once Enterprise gets involved.
Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.
