The disclosure came in a letter from the Pennsylvania attorney general informing him the car was previously declared a "total loss" by State Farm Insurance.

According to Mr. Kimmel, the carrier omitted the salvage history of the Civic, along with the histories of 30,000 other cars when selling the cars on the auction block.

Under the proposed settlement, his lawyer said, Mr. Beaves was to receive approximately $2,700 for the diminished value of his vehicle, which he bought for $14,026 with 11,000 miles on it. The award could vary depending on how many other car owners accept the settlement, a spokesman for the Kimmel firm said.

According to Mr. Kimmel's research, the NADA vehicle pricing guide gives a 2001 Honda Civic LX with a clean title a value of $10,250.

However, because Mr. Beaves title will now identify the car as salvage, it "is worthless in the retail market since few consumers will accept the poor reliability and poor safety hazards of these cars," said Mr. Kimmel.

He said his client had purchased an extended warranty with the car, which Honda has now cancelled.

In addition to State Farm Insurance, Mr. Beaves is suing Moon Township Honda, the dealership that sold him the vehicle, for not disclosing the salvage history at the time of sale, as required by Pennsylvania law.

According to Mr. Kimmel, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office advised Mr. Beaves that the Honda Civic had been the subject of a State Farm Insurance claim prior to his purchase, and the vehicle damage was so extensive that the car was required to have a "salvage" title issued.

Since Honda canceled the warranty, Mr. Beaves "is now required to pay for repairs that had been covered in the past. The value of that loss alone is more than the settlement offered by State Farm," said Mr. Kimmel.

According to the complaint, State Farm Insurance has violated the Pennsylvania Automotive Industry Trade Practice Act, and Moon Township Honda has violated the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Mr. Beaves is seeking a repurchase of the vehicle, along with punitive damages to discourage future sales abuses, collateral charges, attorneys' fees, court costs and treble damages.

Mr. Engerman said of the four lawsuits the company is aware of, two are small-claims actions that the company expects "to resolve amicably."

Iowa==the lead state involved in the title settlement==in a January announcement by Attorney General Tom Miller, said an estimated 30,000 consumers may be eligible for payments from $400 to over $10,000, depending on the current average value of their vehicle and the number of consumers participating in the settlement compensation program.

The announcement said State Farm had approached the states and indicated an internal review had turned up the problem involving damaged or stolen vehicles on which it paid claims.

State Farm at the time blamed the problem on diversity among state vehicle titling laws that the company said made it difficult for insurers to comply with branded title requirements.