Excerpt from Page 13 of the motion Red Rock’s attorneys filed on January 2, 2024 seeking reimbursement of attorneys fees from Derek Paiz, who filed a wage theft case against the company that he filed pro se (without an attorney) in 2023.
Attorneys for Red Rock Auto filed a 15 page motion on January 2, 2025 asking the court to award the company $210,746.50 in attorney fees in the wage theft lawsuit brought by former vehicle detailer Derek Paíz, who worked for Red Rock GMC for about 4 months in 2022 and served as his own attorney in the case.
Red Rock said in its the motion that “Plaintiff’s claims were…frivolous, objectively unreasonable, and groundless” and also that part of the purpose of asking Paíz for attorneys’ fees was to deter other employees from bringing similar cases:
Excerpt from the top of Page 6 of Red Rock’s request to the court to award it attorneys’ fees in the Paíz case.
Red Rock owns five dealerships in Grand Junction: Nissan, Honda and GMC dealerships on First Street, the Kia dealership at 2980 US-50 on Orchard Mesa and the Hyundai dealership at 2162 Highway 6 & 50, between Grand Junction and Fruita.
Paíz lost his case after a 3-day trial in which a 6-person jury returned a verdict in Red Rock’s favor on December 11, 2024 after deliberating for less than 45 minutes.
Why don’t you all look it up/ It the US, the loosing side generally does not have to pay the legal fees of the winning side. Otherwise we would hardly ever see out of court settlements. But then again, here in mesa county, we have third world class courts. Judges do what they want, not what the law says.
Anne is mad at Red Rock because her son’s little dealership couldn’t compete. Mr. Paiz has a history of trying to get business to pay out. Thought he had a gold mine with RRGJ. Mess with a bull…
I suppose their “little dealership” might have been more successful in this valley if they’d have engaged in forgery, criminal impersonation, and identity theft as RRGJ did, right?
Stupid honest businessman.
You’re obviously not familiar with the level of integrity her son has (or lacks). He’s only one of those adjectives.
Yeah, you clearly have a grudge, because Anne posts the truth.
Guys like you can’t handle that.
I suggest the former RRGJ employee round down the punitive demand amount to $.50. More seriously, if Mr. Paiz had had hundreds of thousands to pay attorneys, he would have won his suit. Those with the most money prevail in court.
And??? Isn’t this common practice for the legal process? I hate red rock auto group as much as the next person (how do they still have clientele in this small town???), but between Anne’s never ending and always obvious biases, and the fact that this is completely normal behavior, what’s the point of this diatribe? Mr auto detailer should’ve known this was a possibility when he decided to represent himself. Red rock is indeed a scummy place of business, but there’s also scummy people in this world (see the author of this blog for instance).
Your blog would probably get more traction if your personal hatred/biases weren’t painfully obvious in every tired post you write.
If you feel this way, why don’t you unsubscribe from Anne’s blog and spare us your whiny crybaby grievances? Anne’s been at this a long time. I don’t see it as personal hatred and bias. I see it as putting the facts out there so others can be well informed and perhaps make better decisions with where NOT to buy a vehicle. I would never consider buying a vehicle at Red Rock after reading Anne’s accounts of Red Rock’s numerous dirty practices. You yourself stated you were not sure how they still have a clientele here in the small town, and that they are a scummy place of business and you hate them as much as the next person. Newsflash, not everyone knows about Red Rock’s shady business dealings. I am thankful for Anne’s continual blog posts. Deal with it!
Replying to “this blog.”
Jeeze Louise! Sounds like a bad case of road rage. Anne’s statement was not a diatribe, but just a statement, supported by court documents. Anger harms the vessel, Russell.
That’s a very long name. Few people know what court costs the winning party can claim. It would have been better if he had a lawyer who could tell him the risks and prepare a valid claim and present it better. I’ll bet if you get in trouble, you’ll look for one of those lawyers. Insults like yours are an example of a weak mind.
Very sad and predictable.
I wish someone had advised Derek against filing this suit. I’m surprised the court took his case, such as it was. I wonder if anyone tried to tell him that his evidence wasn’t sufficient and that Red Rock could go after him if he lost.