Woman sues auto dealer for $21m after Mini catches fire while charging at home
Published:Saturday | November 8, 2025 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
A Kingston woman has filed a lawsuit seeking over $21.7 million against luxury auto dealer ATL Autobahn Limited, claiming that her brand-new 2022 Mini Cooper, purchased for nearly $9.4 million, burst into flames while charging at her home, destroying the vehicle and causing extensive damage to her property.
In a lawsuit filed in April in the Supreme Court, Megan Irvine alleges that ATL Autobahn sold her a defective vehicle and breached obligations under the Sale of Goods Act, the Consumer Protection Act, and their contract of sale. She is also accusing the company of negligence and misrepresentation.
According to the claim, Irvine purchased the plug-in hybrid Mini Countryman around September 30, 2021, from ATL Autobahn’s Kingston dealership. The vehicle came with a manufacturer’s warranty, and ATL Autobahn arranged for the installation of a Forge EVSE electric vehicle charging station at her home.
Irvine contends that the Mini was serviced and maintained exclusively by ATL Autobahn’s mechanics. However, on the night of June 23, 2023, she reportedly parked the vehicle at her residence and connected it to the charging station as usual.
Around midnight, the vehicle allegedly caught fire, spreading rapidly and destroying the Mini, while also causing significant structural damage to her home and personal property.
TOTAL LOSSES
The claimant outlined her losses in the lawsuit, totalling $21,740,362.40, which include costs for renovations to her home, replacement of personal property, temporary accommodation, security, transportation, insurance excess, and loss of use, as well as expenses related to the preparation of a bill of quantities and the installation of the charging station.
Irvine claims ATL Autobahn represented itself as an expert provider of brand-new Mini vehicles, and she relied on those representations when making her purchase. She argues that the dealership sold her a car that was “not fit for purpose and not of merchantable quality”, in breach of statutory and contractual obligations.
She further alleges that ATL Autobahn knew or ought to have known of defects affecting the 2022 Mini Countryman Cooper SE ALL4 model and failed to warn customers or address the risks. Irvine also maintains that the company’s actions and omissions amounted to negligence, noting that the damage could not have occurred without a lack of proper care – a claim supported by the legal doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, meaning “the thing speaks for itself”.
The claimant is seeking general and special damages, interest, legal costs, and attorney’s fees, and has reserved the right to amend her claim once further particulars of her losses are available.
In response, ATL Autobahn Limited filed a defence denying that the Mini Countryman was defective. The company asserted that Irvine had made no complaint regarding any issue or condition of the vehicle that could have caused a fire and confirmed that the car was regularly serviced by its mechanics, with any defects identified during maintenance promptly repaired.
ATL Autobahn further contends that the fire and resulting damage were not caused by negligence, breach of contract, or breach of statutory duty on its part. The company suggested that the incident was either an accident or an act of God and also invoked force majeure provisions in the terms and conditions of the buyer’s order, arguing that it cannot be held liable for the fire or subsequent damage.
Attorney-at-law Lowell Morgan, from the law firm Nunes Scholefield Deleon and Co, is representing Irvine, while attorney Ransford Braham of Braham Legal is representing ATL.