By John Council, from Texas Lawyer

Texas City plumber Mark Oberholtzer officially has the worst used car trade-in story ever after photos of his former work truck emblazoned with “Mark-1 Plumbing” being used by jihadists to blast a bed-mounted anti-aircraft gun in Syria went viral.

And now he’s hoping a lawsuit filed against the Houston AutoNation dealer where he traded in his 2005 Ford F-250 pickup for a newer model will put an end to the death threats and harassing calls his business has received since the truck found its way overseas and into the hands of a jihadist group operating near Aleppo.

Oberholtzer claims he tried to peel the “Mark-1 Plumbing” decal off the truck after he traded it in but was told by a AutoNation salesman to stop. Fearing he’d blemish the paint, the salesman told Oberholtzer they would remove the decal later. But that never happened, according to the first-amended petition he filed in Oberholtzer v. AutoNation Ford Gulf Freeway on Dec. 14 in a Harris County district court.

“Mark was not going to really pursue anything—he’s a plumber,” said Craig Eiland, a Galveston plaintiff attorney and former state legislator who represents Oberholtzer. “But he finally realized there is no eraser on the Internet.”

Oberholtzer’s business and personal cellphone received over 1,000 phone calls after a propaganda photo of his former truck’s use in the Syrian civil war was tweeted. And then they increased after a segment about his old truck’s new life was featured on a segment of the final episode of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

“He got a full round of calls. And then the Colbert show brings a whole new round of calls and threats,” said Eiland. “He realized it wasn’t going away; he was going to keep getting screamed at.”

Oberholtzer is asking for $1 million in damages to compensate him for his loss of business. But that’s not the main reason the plumber filed the case, Eiland said.

“First things first; we want AutoNation to acknowledge that Mark-1 Plumbing did not sell a vehicle to jihadists and that truck with Mark’s emblem on it is because AutoNation sold it after they purchased it with his emblem on it, and to clear Mark and Mark-1 Plumbing from any terrorist support,” Eiland said.

“This is the first time I’ve had to represent a Texas City resident accused of being a terrorist supporter,” he said.

Marc Cannon, a spokesman for AutoNation, did not return a call for comment.

IMAGE: Texas plumber Mark Oberholtzer never imagined his small company, Mark-I Plumbing, would become the subject of international news coverage and endless jokes. He sold a 2005 Ford F-250 bearing his company’s name and phone number to AutoNation Ford Gulf Freeway in Houston. For reasons that remain unclear, the decal was not removed and the vehicle made its way to Syria, where jihadis equipped it with a massive gun and appeared with it in photos and video footage circulated online.

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For more on this story go to: http://www.texaslawyer.com/id=1202744911065/Plumber-Hopes-to-Distance-Himself-from-Jihadist-Truck-in-Lawsuit#ixzz3uVx7HIud