Jury decides against Friendly Ford owner

The jury awarded Matthew Hayes $40,000 in punitive damages and $11,500 in compensatory damages June 16. Hayes worked as a new-trucks salesman at Friendly Ford May–December 2001, during which time he claims that Wise touched his buttocks and genitals and struck him on the ears with a comb that Wise had dubbed “Mr. Snappy.”

The alleged actions were Wise’s way of flexing his muscle and humiliating his employees, according to the plaintiff’s attorney, Shawnee, Kan.-based Mark Bodine.

“Certainly, with the punitive damages award, it sends a message to employers that this type of conduct isn’t tolerated in today’s society,” Bodine said.

Hayes was one of 10 original plaintiffs in the suit, all of whom worked in Friendly Ford’s new-trucks department between 1999 and 2001.

Hayes’ award is the second decision against Wise in Greene County. Plaintiff Chris Ames was awarded $65,000 Dec. 21.

The new trucks department’s former supervisor, plaintiff Greg Hanson, lost at trial last year.

Several original claims were dismissed, but four more trials still loom on the horizon. Bodine, counsel to all the plaintiffs, doesn’t expect the next trial to begin for months.

Wise and Kansas City-based attorney Kevin Case declined comment on the jury’s verdict in Hayes’ lawsuit. Instead, Case pointed to a separate suit they filed June 9 in Greene County by Wise and Friendly Ford.

The new lawsuit names the original plaintiffs, Bodine, Bodine’s current and former law firms and Springfield bar Sir Gregory’s as defendants. Sir Gregory’s is listed because Hanson, a defendant, is its president.

“It is a lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy and tortious interference,” Case said.

Case said he expects Bodine to file his answer in about a month, though he would be willing to extend deadlines if needed to give Bodine more time to digest the 39-page court filing.

Meanwhile, Charlie Chappell, owner of Chappell’s Tires Inc., said he thinks that Wise is being falsely accused. He said he’s known Wise for 20 years. The two own racehorses together and have done business between Chappell’s Tires and Friendly Ford before.

“I’ve been out at the (dealership) hundreds of times,” Chappell said. “I’ve never seen anything out of him.”