About 70 Tristate residents defrauded in an auto-buying scam by the defunct Harry Hocks Leasing will lose their cars to a bank unless they agree to buy them all over again.

        Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Richard Niehaus has ruled that because Firstar Bank has title to the cars, it has the legal right to them. The car buyers had allowed Mr. Hocks, who died from a fall in December, to keep the titles so they wouldn't have to pay sales taxes and so Mr. Hocks could apply the depreciation to his taxes.

        The ruling ends a bizarre affair that pitted Mr. Hocks' victims against one another. Most of his customers had paid in cash and agreed to let him hold the titles. He then gave the titles to Firstar and Fifth Third Bank for $2.6 million in loans that he defaulted on early last year.

        Fifth Third worked out compromises with its share of Hocks customers. Firstar elected to exercise its legal rights to the letter, prompting its car owners to hire a lawyer and file suit.

        Firstar Vice President Steve Jones said some Hocks customers have asked about buying the cars. As to the rest, Firstar wants them to surrender the vehicles.

        “We're still working through some logistics, but the sooner the better because we'd like to get this thing behind us,” Mr. Jones said.

        The losers in the car war are incensed.

        “I think it's outrageous,” said Dan Millikin of Hamilton. He bought a new 1997 Buick LeSabre from Hocks Leasing for $22,500. If he wants to keep it, he'll have to pay Firstar $10,000 — its current market value.

        “When I first got the letter from Firstar, I really thought the courts would be benevolent enough that they'd never allow my car to be taken away from me,” Mr. Millikin said.

        Lawyers for the banks and the car buyers looked to the Hocks estate to satisfy some of the claims, but found nothing of any value. That led to the legal tug-of-war over the cars.

        Myrna Smith, a church secretary who lives in Cherry Grove, said the ruling “stinks.” She paid more than $30,000 for her 1999 GMC Yukon and was told she'd have to pay $18,000 more to keep it.

        “The people who bought the cars from Harry Hocks paid for the cars, never knowing he sold our titles to Firstar,” she said. “I think Firstar had an obligation to tell the people they had our titles.”

        The car buyers' lawyer, Hans Zimmer of Cincinnati, had hoped to try the dispute before a jury. Filing an appeal, he said, would be up to his clients.

        “The judge has the right to make a ruling on questions of law. A jury rules on questions of fact,” Mr. Zimmer said. Judge Niehaus “made a determination in this particular case that the question of ownership of the vehicles was a question of law and wasn't for a jury to decide.”

        E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com
       

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