The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Pomp Boys Motors are seeking more than $1 million in damages, their attorneys said in a document asking that the case be designated as exceptional and that it be assigned to a judge with extensive experience in complex business cases.

The lawsuit was filed this week on behalf of 21 plaintiffs by the Chapel Hill-based J.C. White Law Group and Halifax-based attorney Franklin Jones.

The damages estimate is based on trebling them as well as attorney fees and other costs.

One of the people named in the suit — Vivian Pompliano — is already scheduled for court appearances in Halifax County for fraud and exploitation counts as charged by the Roanoke Rapids Police Department.

In stating their case for an exceptional designation, the attorneys are asking that Wake County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Paul Rideway recommend to the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court that he appoint an experienced judge to the case.

“The twenty-one Plaintiffs in this case contend that they were all victims of scams perpetrated by Vivian Pompliano, Anthony Pompliano and their company Pomp Boys Motors. Every one of them has strong claims against the defendants under North Carolina's Motor Vehicle Repair Act. “They contend that defendants would brazenly charge in excess of the value of the inadequate work they performed; they would perform work without offering estimates, and freely ignore those estimates that they did give.”

Says the document: “Over and over they would charge for repairs that had never been authorized; they would falsely represent that repairs had been made; they would falsely claim that certain parts or repairs were necessary; they would falsely claim that cars were in dangerous condition and needed immediate repairs; they would alter invoices and other documents.”

Because of the complexity of the case, the attorneys wrote that the parties “would benefit from a single judge, particularly a judge who is experienced in complex business cases such as this.”