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https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/12/former-hertz-employee-says-company-is-outsourcing-its-collection-efforts-to-law-enforcement/>
"Rental car company Hertz has put the “hurt” back in, um, “Hertz.” The company
recently declared itself bankrupt, something that presumably only referred to
its balance sheet.
But Hertz has more problems. In 2021 (the same year Hertz “emerged” from
bankruptcy), the company was sued by a man who could have been cleared of
murder charges if only the company has been interested in finding his rental
receipt. It took the company three years to produce the records clearing
Herbert Alford, but that came at the tail end of Alford’s five years behind
bars.
More recently, the company has been sued for falsely reporting rental vehicle
thefts — something that has led to false charges, wrongful imprisonment, and a
class action lawsuit. Hertz’s best practices when it comes to suspected theft
are apparently the worst. Hundreds of plaintiffs claim Hertz doesn’t do much in
terms of verification, apparently preferring law enforcement handle its due
diligence for it. Unfortunately, turning this over to law enforcement means
people lose their freedoms. And, if the practice continues, people are going to
lose their lives.
Bogus stolen vehicle reports lead to guns out traffic stops by law enforcement.
Once the guns are out, it’s up to the driver to ensure they don’t get shot.
That’s not always going to work out and Hertz is lucky it’s not fielding
wrongful death suits. But that luck isn’t going to hold forever. Sooner or
later, the utterly imaginable will happen and Hertz will be somewhat
responsible for the dead body lying near an officer who mistook confusion for
resistance."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
