SHE Group LLC, which did business as Oak Ridge dealership Dean Stallings Ford Lincoln Mercury, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last month and appeared in Bankruptcy Court in Knoxville on Monday to meet with creditors.

A lawsuit filed in Loudon County Chancery Court last November by General Motors' finance company, GMAC, alleges that SHE Group also did business as Lane Chrysler Buick GMC, a Lenoir City dealership.

The GMAC complaint lists SHE Group, Kenny Lane, a major Knoxville-area car dealer, and Randy Hinton , a Knoxville-area tow operator, as defendants.

A statement of financial affairs in SHE Group's bankruptcy case lists Lane, Hinton and former Sheriff Tim Hutchison as one-third members of SHE Group. Hutchison is not identified as a defendant in GMAC's suit.

Hinton and Lane declined comment Monday about the lawsuit. Hutchison could not be reached for comment.

As of last week, the Loudon County Chancery Court's clerk and master listed the suit as an active case. Andrew Colocotronis, an attorney representing GMAC, said the matter has been resolved, adding that the defendants "paid their obligations."

The lawsuit alleges that GMAC and SHE Group entered an inventory financing and security agreement, also known as a floor-plan agreement, in January 2008 in which GMAC financed vehicles acquired by SHE Group.

It alleges that in November, GMAC conducted an on-site vehicle inventory audit and determined that approximately 50 inventory-financed vehicles listed as collateral were missing from the dealership. The suit alleges that SHE Group did not provide GMAC with substantial records concerning the vehicles, and that the firm's controller prevented GMAC employees from inspecting records.

In the auto dealership business, it is common for floor-plan lenders to conduct such inventory audits to ensure that vehicles are on the lot or easily accounted for.

The suit also alleges that before the audit, a "significant number of vehicles" left the dealership at one time and were believed to have been disposed of in violation of the floor-plan agreement. The suit alleges SHE Group was "out-of-trust" - an industry term for the value of missing collateral - by more than $900,000.

A filing later in November said some information was provided to GMAC, but that 34 vehicles were still unaccounted for, and that the defendants were still out of trust by $577,866.

The original lawsuit contended that SHE Group co-owners Lane and Hinton guaranteed payment of SHE Group debts and participated in "the fraudulent disposition of Inventory Financed Vehicles."

In an affidavit that is part of the case file, Fred Sinclair, director of commercial lending at GMAC, said he had seen documentation indicating that some of the floor-plan vehicles were sold without payment to GMAC to an affiliate dealership of which it was believed Kenny Lane was the principal owner.

In their own filing, SHE Group, Lane and Hinton denied that they were out-of-trust and allege that GMAC had $577,000 of the defendants' money.

"The defendants would further show that the plaintiffs have taken the titles, keys, and (manufacturer's statements of origin) of all vehicles of the dealership, placed a security guard at defendant's premises and have in fact put the dealership out of business," the filing states.

Although the Bankruptcy Court asks filers to make a full disclosure of business arrangements and litigation, a statement of financial affairs filed as part of the bankruptcy did not list Lane Chrysler among the businesses in which SHE Group was a partner or had a stake of at least 5 percent. That filing also said there were no suits or administrative proceedings to which SHE Group was a party within a year of the filing.

Lynn Tarpy, an attorney representing SHE Group in the bankruptcy matter, said in an e-mail message that the statement of financial affairs would be amended to reflect the litigation and to reflect the Lenoir City dealership. Tarpy said that dealership - which he identified as Lane Chevrolet Buick Pontiac GMC - "ceased operations some time ago."

Hutchison has said he sold his interest in the SHE Group in February 2008. A document in the Loudon County case, however, said Hutchison - who has said he is considering a bid for county mayor in 2010 - was among those served with a subpoena in November.

In February, Loudon County Chancellor Frank Williams III signed an order that, among other things, restrained SHE Group from selling or removing vehicles from Lane Chevrolet Buick without approval of GMAC and required SHE Group to pay off the deficiency balance under the floor-plan agreement. It also required Lane to provide all documents relating to the transactions between Lane Chrysler and any dealership with which he has an affiliation.

The judge's order makes reference to both Lane Chevrolet Buick and Lane Chrysler Buick GMC, but court documents list both entities at the same address, 1272 Highway 321 North, in Lenoir City.