Our clients the Plaintiffs purchased a 2014 BMW 428i to be the Plaintiff’s primary vehicle. Within four months of purchase, the vehicle started manifesting serious engine defects like shaking, rough idle, and the fuel gauge malfunctioning. Within the first year of ownership, the Plaintiff contacted BMW twice and asked BMW to repurchase the vehicle because the engine issues continued even after four repair opportunities at BMW’s dealerships. BMW refused the repurchase requests and forced the Plaintiff to continue driving the dangerous vehicle. Within 14 months of ownership, the vehicle dangerously stalled unexpectedly while the Plaintiff was driving on the freeway. Fortunately, he did not get into an accident. The same day, the Plaintiff called BMW again and asked for a repurchase for third time. This time, BMW did offer to repurchase the vehicle but the offer was for far less than the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (California Lemon Law) requires.

BMW refused to correct its offer, so the Plaintiffs hired counsel. The case went to trial in federal court in the Central District of California, where the Plaintiffs were represented by California Lemon Law -trial attorneys Richard Wirtz and Amy Rotman from Wirtz Law APC. After a three-day trial, the jury took less than 1-hour to unanimously award the Plaintiffs with the maximum damages awardable under the  California Lemon Law: repurchase and a two-time civil penalty for a total of $159,480.05, plus BMW was ordered to pay plaintiff’s attorney’s fees and costs. The jury agreed that BMW had willfully violated the California Lemon Law by refusing to repurchase the vehicle despite the repeated repair visits and serious, unrepaired defects.

For more information call the experienced trial attorneys at 858-259-5009 for a free case evaluation.