Under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, known as California’s Lemon Law, a consumer does not have to keep a defective vehicle to pursue their rights. In Martinez v. Kia Motors America, Inc., (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 187, the Court of Appeal definitively ruled that current vehicle ownership is not a requirement for relief under the California...

The California Lemon Law allows consumers who successfully sue to recover as damages the price “paid or payable” for the subject vehicle, subject to an offset in favor of the auto manufacturer for plaintiffs’ use of the vehicle prior to first defect.  Plaintiffs may also recover for violations of express warranty civil...

The appellate court in Reynolds v. Ford Motor Company, --- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, 2020 WL 1921742, made it absolutely clear:  Courts cannot consider the contingency fee when making statutory fee awards under the California Lemon Law fee shifting provisions.  Trial court judges have no discretion to reduce or deny statutory fee awards based on a...

In 1995, the Krotin v. Porsche Cars North America, Inc., 38 Cal.App.4th 294 court clarified how the California Lemon Law is supposed to work.  In rejecting a jury instruction putting an unwarranted burden on California consumers to reject or revoke acceptance of the vehicle to obtain California Lemon Law remedies, the court held that...

The California Lemon Law (Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act) provides specific remedies and damages to California consumers, including restitution (refund) and civil penalties.  Despite the harrowing experiences and frustrations unrepaired defects in cars cause, as a general rule, damages strictly for emotional distress are not recoverable under the California Lemon Law. (Kwan...

The Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (“Act”), known as the California Lemon Law, is one of the most pro-consumer pieces of legislation on California’s books today. In Kwan v. Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc., (1994) 23 Cal. App. 4th 174, the court re-emphasized the importance of civil penalties to maintain the protective purpose of...

According to the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California’s lemon law, a buyer can recover civil penalties if the manufacturer willfully violated the Ac In this context, “willful” means the manufacturer “knew of its legal obligations and intentionally declined to follow them.” This means that the manufacturer knew what it was doing and intended to...

The civil penalty is amount of damages in addition to a buyer’s actual, incidental, and consequential damages.  Civil Penalties are meant to punish or deter a manufacturer  or distributor from future violations of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California’s Lemon Law.

 A buyer can recover the civil penalty if they can establish...

In addition to a refund of the price of the vehicle itself, a California buyer is entitled to recover incidental and consequential damages. The Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California’s lemon law, does not include an exhaustive list of what counts toward this total. Instead, the Act states such damages include but are not limited to reasonable...

Under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California’s Lemon Law, a buyer is entitled to either a repurchase of their defective vehicle or a replacement vehicle.  The choice is the buyer's. For a repurchase, the buyer receives a refund of the vehicle’s purchase price and incidental and consequential damages, with a mileage offset taken from...