Car dealer labeled ‘Taliban Toyota’ wins millions

MOBILE, Ala., (Reuters) – The owner of a large  southwest Alabama car dealership derided as “Taliban Toyota” by  a competitor has been awarded $7.5 million in damages after a  jury trial for his slander claim.

Iranian-born Shawn Esfahani, owner of Eastern Shore Toyota  in Daphne, Alabama, had sought $28 million in compensatory and  punitive damages from Bob Tyler Toyota, claiming employees at  that Pensacola, Florida-based dealership falsely portrayed him  as an Islamist militant to customers.

“The feeling I received in the courtroom for the truth to  come out was worth a lot more than any money anybody can give  me,” Esfahani told Reuters on Tuesday.

Esfahani’s lawsuit said that Bob Tyler sales manager Fred  Kenner told at least one couple considering buying from Eastern  Shore Toyota in 2009 that Esfahani was of Middle Eastern  descent and was “helping fund the insurgents there and is also  laundering money for them.”

Esfahani, a naturalized U.S. citizen, fled his native Iran  in 1980 following the Islamic revolution that toppled the  U.S.-backed Shah and swept Shi’ite Muslim clergy to power, his  lawsuit said. He opened his car dealership in 2007.

The Taliban are hardline Islamist militants in Afghanistan  and Pakistan.

A Bob Tyler salesman was accused of telling the same couple  that Esfahani was from Iraq and calling him a “terrorist” who  put soldiers including the salesman’s brother in harm’s way.

“(Esfahani) is funneling money back to his family and other  terrorists. I have a brother over there and what you’re doing  is helping kill my brother,” the salesman told the couple,  according to the suit.

The jury deliberated for three hours before awarding  Esfahani $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in  punitive damages on Monday evening.

Bob Tyler’s attorney Jeffrey Ingram could not be reached  for comment yesterday, and Tyler and Kenner both declined to  comment through a dealership spokesman.

“This case didn’t take aim at just Mr. Tyler,” Esfahani  said. “It was intended to address any other business that  resorts to those kinds of actions to win at their game  unfairly.”