GALVESTON - The plaintiff in a 2012 lawsuit over a missing engine seeks a default judgment, recent court records show.
Ron Houck entered a motion into his suit on April 17.
Houck sued Leo Lasher, doing business as Auto World, in Galveston County Court at Law No. 2 on Nov. 7, 2012, on grounds he bought a vintage vehicle that did not have the features that were represented.
According to Houck, Lasher told him the 1969 AMC AMX that is the focus of the litigation had a “real 390 CI V-8 engine.”
The plaintiff purchased the car only to subsequently discover “it had a much smaller engine and these facts could not be known to anyone but [the respondent],” the original petition says.
The suit adds the complainant paid $13,500, which supposedly was not the real price as the car “was of a much lower value because of the much smaller engine and in fact was of no value to a collector.”
“This automobile is one that collectors value the much larger engine at a much higher value and [the plaintiff] would not have bought this automobile had he known that the engine was so small,” the original petition says.
Lasher reportedly did not provide a formal response to the allegations.
Houck's motion adds the defendant "has failed to appear."
A dismissal docket is set for May 23 at 2 p.m.
Cause No. 68,683
Plaintiff enters motion for default judgment into missing engine lawsuit
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