SolveYourProblem eLearning Series:
Got Shafted?
Fight Back if Your Car is a Lemon!
( 27 pages )

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

Without a doubt, the car manufacturer will at least send you what is call an interrogatory, which is a long set of questions that will require a lot of time to complete and require that you provide them with a full set of documentation.

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!

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