A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge has ordered Cudahy-based Midwest Auto Recycling LLC and its subsidiaries to pay $48 million after a jury found the company liable on an out-of-state-address claim. The judgment caps a legal fight that stretches back nearly a decade and touches buyers who thought they were dealing with a sprawling nationwide network of salvage yards rather than a single Wisconsin warehouse.
According to Spectrum News, most used engines and transmissions sold by the company had more than 88,000 miles on them above the mileage quoted to customers at the time of purchase. The same report notes that Midwest Auto Recycling falsely claimed to operate out of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, when in reality the business ran only out of a single facility in Cudahy with what the outlet describes as a small inventory of parts. The company also claimed it maintained the largest nationwide used inventory and that its engines and transmissions were tested, visually inspected, and cleaned, when the outlet reports the parts were not routinely tested or certified at all.
A Decade of Complaints Behind the Verdict
The case traces back to June 2017, when the Wisconsin Department of Justice first filed its civil fraud lawsuit against Midwest Auto Recycling following joint referrals from DATCP and the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin, according to CBS 58. Those referrals followed complaints collected over more than five years, with consumers across multiple states reporting misrepresentations and warranty problems. A separate CBS 58 report described complaints and customer inquiries about the company and its affiliated engine websites.
Midwest Auto Recycling operated in Cudahy and sold used and remanufactured engines and transmissions online rather than operating as a physical salvage yard.
Twenty Companies, One Address
Court filings reviewed by the Wisconsin Court System show the operation ran at least 10 websites out of a single physical facility at 2100A East College Avenue in Cudahy. Per Spectrum News, those websites included Engine and Transmission World, Quality Used Engines, and Engine Shopper. The case involved representations made through those websites.
During testimony, business manager Alfred Talyansky defended the use of out-of-state virtual office addresses and the separate websites as tactics to increase Google traffic, telling the court that the more space a business takes up in Google, the more traffic it gets, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. Defense attorneys argued during trial that the virtual office locations reflected common e-commerce practice rather than intentional consumer fraud.
The Legal Fight Over Who the Law Protects
The case involved a dispute over how Wisconsin's consumer-protection law applies to out-of-state customers. In July 2023, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled that a comma in Wisconsin's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, § 100.18(1), establishes that the illegal act of publishing false claims occurs within Wisconsin regardless of where the customer who saw the ad actually lives, according to the Wisconsin Justice Initiative. The ruling addressed how the statute applies when customers are outside the state.
Under the final judgment, Midwest Auto Recycling and its subsidiaries must pay more than $47 million in forfeitures and surcharges, over $400,000 to cover the state's investigation and prosecution costs, and $1.2 million directly to 472 identified consumers, per Spectrum News. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said, as reported by the same outlet, that those who violate the trust of their customers should be held to account. The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Wisconsin Department of Justice jointly brought the case against the company.
A Familiar Pattern for Wisconsin Regulators
The judgment fits a broader enforcement pattern in Wisconsin. DATCP-led consumer-protection actions and mediations are part of the state's enforcement work, and forfeiture penalties are among the remedies available in such cases. Auto sales and vehicle repair disputes remain among the state's top complaint categories; DATCP receives complaints about motor vehicle accessories and parts. State regulations address auto repair and parts businesses.
Wisconsin authorities have pursued other consumer-protection cases. It remains to be seen how effectively the $1.2 million in direct restitution will reach the 472 identified victims of Midwest Auto Recycling scattered across multiple states.
