Judge: Alleged scam victim can have trial

A retired Long Beach woman who was ordered to pay $21,000 for a car she said she was tricked into buying by her son, the dealership and a bank has won a reversal of the decision.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise Sher, who ruled against Deanna Cruse, 73, in February, said Wednesday in her decision that Cruse, who represented herself, had erroneously "omitted information which would have assisted the Court in determining whether or not the Plaintiff [M&T Bank] was entitled," to a judgment without a full trial. The case will now go to trial.

Cruse, now represented by Hempstead lawyer Fred Brewington, had said previously in court papers that she was defrauded in the 2006 deal.

The bank responded that she then should have filed a complaint with the state attorney general's office. Cruse had made the filing, but didn't mention it in replying to the bank lawsuit against her. Brewington focused on the issue in his motion to reverse Sher's February decision.

Cruse, whose income totals $1,700 a month, said she thought she was only acting as a co-signer for her son, Duane Wallace, 47, to purchase a $42,000 used Range Rover.

"They sent a car to take me to and from the dealership in Queens. They had me sign a paper, and when I asked where was my son's signature, they told me he was coming in later to sign," she told Newsday.

When her son did not make the first payment, Cruse said she learned she was the buyer, at $758 a month. "I told them I didn't buy the car, didn't have it and didn't want it. They had given the car to my son."

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Wallace, now living in Atlanta, and the dealership, Universal Auto Network of Jamaica, did not return calls for comment Thursday. Chet Bridger, a spokesman for Buffalo-based M&T, said the bank could not comment.In her decision Wednesday, Sher noted: "As soon as Ms. Cruse learned that hers was the only name on the installment contract, she filed a complaint with the . . . state attorney general."

The state attorney general's office declined to comment.

A preliminary conference on the case is set for July 16.