This story started with a 2018 Mercedes-Benz Metris van and one entitled owner. In Canada, an individual named Tong “Heintz” Sun and his father decided to lease a Mercedes van for the family business. When Sun decided to use his newly leased Mercedes van during a crime spree, the courts were less than sympathetic.

The Mercedes van was leased for business reasons and used for nefarious reasons

Automotive News Canada says Sun and his father leased this Mercedes-Benz Metris van for a short-term rental business at first. Sun used the leased Mercedes van during a vandalism incident where he allegedly “smash(ed) vehicle windows at multiple auto dealerships.” Someone called the police, and Sun was arrested by the Vancouver police that night.

Upon his arrest, the Vancouver police impounded the Metris van, which Automotive News Canada says was damaged at the time. Police returned the van to Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, and MB terminated the lease. Mercedes ended the lease because Sun used the vehicle in an “injurious and unlawful manner.”

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services says that at one point, someone at the company reached out to offer the lessors a deal. Sun could buy out the lease and get the van back.

Sun decided to sue over losing his leased Mercedes van

Justice Simon Coval says Sun was “extremely aggressive” toward the staff member and even threatened someone. He noted that the staff member “would be sorry if he did not give the Metris back and pay him for lost income of $50,000.” Sun did not pay for the remaining lease, and Mercedes had the Metris van auctioned off.

The next course of action was obviously for Sun to sue Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. He sought $1 million initially for the breach of the lease. Mercedes counter-sued for the balance owed on the lease.

After hearing that news, the Suns amended the suit for $49 billion. The family says the situation negatively impacted credit scores with Equifax and Trans Union. Sun says this ruined his chances of becoming a billionaire. In response, the courts have labeled the Sun family as “vexatious litigants.”

Justice Coval did not buy Sun’s story about the vandalism

Coval said the courts found no evidence that supported Sun’s case. Sun represented himself and his father in the case and studied law at the time of the incident. Sun ascertains he did not commit the vandalism and that it was someone who looked like him.

Coval found that Mercedes Financial Services was right in terminating the lease of the Mercedes-Benz Metris van. The courts awarded the company $18,000, the value of the lost lease payments. Later, the Supreme Court registrar also awarded the company an additional $48,549 for court and attorney fees.

Another article from CBC News says that this isn’t the first time the Sun family has been in legal trouble. Tong “Heintz” Sun, his father Jinzhong Sun, and his mother Lizhun Zhao are no longer allowed to “launch legal actions without permission from a judge.” If you plan on committing crimes while leasing a vehicle, perhaps it is a good idea to leave the leased vehicle at home.