A lawsuit by five Hertz Global Holdings Inc. customers has accused the rental giant of faulty inventory tracking that caused the drivers to face wrongful arrest for car theft, the Wall Street Journal reported. The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Superior Court on Tuesday, said the five named customers were stopped in the past year by police and held at gunpoint for renting and driving vehicles that Hertz incorrectly reported as stolen. Such instances have been a continuing issue for Hertz, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, with at least 300 since 2015. The majority of legal claims related to false arrests were funneled into bankruptcy proceedings after the company entered chapter 11 proceedings in May 2020. The latest suit appears to be the first stemming from police stops that occurred since the company emerged from bankruptcy. In court and securities filings this year, Hertz has said the false-arrests allegations are an old problem and contained to the company that collapsed two years ago under the weight of mounting debt, stiff competition and the pandemic’s early impact on travel. Most of the cases at issue involve vehicles that weren’t returned to Hertz on time, though some claimants have been offered settlements, Hertz said in its latest quarterly report. The lawsuit filed yesterday alleged that the problems still exist. In several incidents that have occurred since Hertz emerged from bankruptcy in June 2021, police allegedly stopped and drew weapons on customers for driving vehicles they had rented from Hertz.
