The Lemon Law Blog

In July 2007, the California Legislature approved and the Governor signed a bill to extend the protection of the California Lemon Law to members of the Armed Forces stationed in California regardless of where they bought their lemon car or truck. California is the only state that has extended its lemon law to military personnel who bought their vehicle outside of the state in which they are stationed.

The problem was that military personnel stuck with a lemon vehicle were not exactly free to go to their home state where they bought their vehicle to hire an attorney and prosecute a lemon law case. State Senator Ellen Corbett carried the bill that will become effective January 1, 2008. The bill was sponsored by Rosemary Shahan of the non-profit advocate group, CARS.

For more information on the background on this new law, go to CARS' website.

Posted by Mark F. Anderson | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Lemon Law Amendments

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One of our clients has a 2006 Honda Civic hybrid that cannot always make it up the hill to her house! Even when she floors the accelerator, the car just stops. Turns out the problem is that when the battery to the electric booster engine on the car is low, the tiny gasoline engine just does not have the power to move the car up the rather steep hill going to her house.

When the car stops, the owner has to back down the hill, drive around for a while to charge up the battery, and then make the run back up the hill. At times, she had to park the car and walk home.

The Honda dealer looked at the car three times, but gave up trying to fix the car because there is no fix.

Channel 7 ABC News consumer reporter Michael Finney took a ride with the owner. Here is his report.

After filing the lawsuit, Honda to refund the owner all her money and take back the car.

Posted by Mark F. Anderson | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Lemon Law Cases

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In an auto lease class action, the San Francisco Superior Court recently granted preliminary approval of a class action settlement that plaintiffs reached with Wells Fargo Bank. The case is entitled Gutierrez v AutoWest et al.

The Settlement Class Notice was mailed on or about June 20, 2007. A copy of the notice appears here.

This notice reflects settlement of only part of the case, involving the failure to disclose itemization of gross capitalized cost in auto leases. The remaining lawsuit, which concerns false advertising as well as deceptive lease documentation, is scheduled to go to trial on August 13, 2007, against the non-settling defendants. These include AutoWest Dodge in Freemont, California, and its parent AutoNation, Inc. with headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. After Wells Fargo settled, the San Franciso court granted plaintiffs class certification as to the non-settling defendants. There are approximately 750 members of the class.

Posted by Nancy Barron | Permalink | Email This Post

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