My Girlfriend works for a car parts company where she found out that they sell products bought from China and is actually sold as “made in US” to customers and charged thousands of dollars for them. For example: selling fake Carbon Fiber for 1500 when in reality only worth 2-300?

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    Note that "made in the US" applies legally to machines that had just some bolts added to attach imported parts together. – Trish Oct 24 '20 at 10:05

Is it Illegal to sue

Suing by itself is never illegal. If the proposed case would be an abuse of process, it would not be allowed by the court in the first place.

Otherwise yes, selling fakes is illegal and can be prosecuted (for fraud) and/or sued (for damages).

  • They knowingly buy parts that are made in China, and then market “all parts made in the US” they also treat their employees like absolute garbage so it’s a bad company all around. No safety regs either – Alexander Oct 24 '20 at 16:21

It is not illegal to sue the company. My original response (below) was mistakenly answering the question “can we sue” rather than the actual question. Thanks to the person who pointed out my error. Here is my original response to the question “can we sue?”:

Yes! If a corporation is unfairly and intentionally misrepresenting their products, it’s probably fraud. However, the caveat is that if the Chinese manufacturer led the American company to actually believe the parts were made in the US, the liability shifts to the Chinese company. If that’s the case, you are probably going to have trouble getting anything done. Best option is to get a lawyer who can help you navigate your options as far as litigation.

  • Hi, welcome to Law.SE. Could you provide a citation for suing such a company being actually illegal? – Ryan M Oct 24 '20 at 0:20
  • @RyanM please see my updated answer. Thanks for catching that! – Jack Edwards Oct 24 '20 at 2:50

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