Lemon Law Proceedings
What to Expect at the Actual Lemon Law Legal Proceedings
When the lemon law suit has been filed, both parties have to agree on a court date. However, don't you shouldn’t get your hopes up that your case will be heard on that date. Car manufacturers generally get one or more adjournments for one or other reasons that they concoct.
In the larger areas of jurisdiction, expect that the ultimate date of your trial won't be for at least a year or two or more from the time you actually filed the lawsuit. Again, this is what you should expect and what the car manufacturer will do as a means of making you go away.
Discovery In many cases, they will also require a deposition from you. A deposition is a face to face meeting that is recorded and where
both sides’ attorneys get to ask you many questions. |
What they are mostly aiming for isn't really to obtain any more information related to your car. It is mostly so that they can obtain information they can use to limit their own liability
They want to know things like how much you think your car is worth and to determine what kind of witness you will make if the case went to court. It is all a bunch of mind games and if you don’t know what to do, it will confuse you.
Here are some quick tips to a successful deposition:
Keep your cool. Don't get excited or make accusations, and definitely don't say things that you cannot prove. Keep your answers short and only answer the questions you are asked. Remember, this isn't personal, it's about money.
The inevitable settlement conference/offer
If the car manufacturer believes that you have a legitimate lemon law case against them, you do not want to look for them to give you what you are asking. In fact, don't even expect them to be reasonable in their offer. A settlement conference or offer is made for one purpose and that is to make this thing go away and hopefully very cheaply.
They are only testing the waters to see how much resolve you have, and to see if you are willing to take the sure thing by offering you enough to cover your attorney fees and maybe a thousand or two for your trouble. They get more people than you can imagine this way because people get scared of potentially losing in court. You should expect that you will have one or more offers before going to court.
They are also hoping that your attorney won't be confident enough with
his/her litigation abilities to go to court against their lawyers and
will advise you to take the money and run.
It is very rare that any lemon law settlement offer would include a new car which is what the law entitles you to. In addition to paying your attorney fees, they will usually agree to cover the item that is under warranty for the life of the car, or they may agree to buy it back from you for blue book value or they can make an offer based on the number of miles you have accumulated. Remember that if they are not offering to cover your attorney fees on top of this, you are going to be very behind after your fees are taken out. |
After delaying on this for a couple of years and after you begin putting on more miles, they will likely to offer you a lot less than if they had settled with you in the beginning.
If they offer you $10,000 for your car because that's the blue book value, and you have paid your attorney $3000, then what you end up with is $7000, they get the car, and you have to figure out how to buy an equal car for that amount of money. Talk about bull!
Lemon law in court
If all else fails you, and despite the reluctance of most car manufacturers to go to court with a lemon law case, some of them do. They may figure they have a good enough case or they might believe enough in their own abilities to confuse the court that they are willing to go that far just to prove that they can.
You should expect to get described as an opportunist who is using a minor situation to go after a good company just to make a quick buck. Look for the opposing attorney to even make this claim to the court or to ask you if you aren't just pressing your lemon lawsuit just so that you can get rich at the expense of the car manufacturer.
Don't let this bother you. It's a common tactic. Stick to the facts and understand before you go into court why you are there and why you have the right to demand what you are asking. When you are sure of these things, this comes across to the court and they are on your side.
Here's a recap of why you are suing under lemon law:
- The car manufacturer through their dealer had no problem taking your money in the first place. You negotiated in good faith for a car that was at least mostly free from defects, and that the company would and could make repairs that are covered under warranty.
- Chances are you didn’t get what you negotiated for. You got a car that has defects that they are unable or refuse to fix. Filing a lemon law lawsuit is not a personal thing, they don't take it that way and neither should you when they attempt to defend it.
- The car manufacturer does business in your state knowing full well what the lemon laws are. They understand that they will make a certain number of lemons and they choose to do business anyway. The fact that you are now suing them is a calculated part of doing business, and they need not be exempted from the law when something does go wrong.
- It is the car manufacturer that is being unreasonable during most lawsuits. They know they will occasionally produce a lemon, yet in no instance do they ever accept responsibility for it without taking action on the part of the consumer.
- Assuming that you have a legitimate case, the car manufacturer has likely neglected to act in good faith by negotiating with you and forcing you to live with the lemon car while they played around went against their legal obligations since they became aware of the situation.
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