Lemon Law – Its Origin
Lemon laws are state laws that provide remedies to purchasers of autos that somehow fail to meet implied standards of quality or performance. These autos are called lemons. The federal lemon law (eg, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) protects citizens of all states. Lemon law rights vary, however, from state to state and some do not necessarily cover used or leased cars. The legal rights afforded to citizens by lemon laws may exceed the warranties. “Lemon law” is the common nickname for these laws, but you need to remember that each state has different names for the laws and acts.
Returning to Magnuson-Moss, however, it is a U.S.A. federal law. Enacted in 1975, it is the one federal statute that governs the administration of warranties on all American-made consumer products. The Act was sponsored (as one might suspect, by the names involved) by Democratic Senators Warren Magnuson of Washington and Congressman John Moss of California. Legislative history of the Act indicates that its purpose is to make warranties on consumer products (cars/ automobiles, in the case at hand) more readily understood and enforceable and to provide the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with means to better protect consumers.
The Act provides that any warrantor warranting a consumer product (auto/ car) to a consumer by means of a written warranty must disclose, fully and conspicuously, in simple and readily understood language, the terms and conditions of the warranty to the extent required by rules of the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission has provided laws/regulations governing the disclosure of written consumer product warranty terms and conditions on consumer products actually costing the consumer more than $15.00.
The Act is meant to provide car buyers with access to reasonable and effective remedies where there is a breach of warranty on a consumer product, like a car or auto. The Act provides for informal dispute-settlement procedures and for actions brought by the government and by private parties.
In the State of California, lemon laws cover anything mechanical, as do the federal lemon laws. Additionally, lemon law also provides that the warranter may be obligated to pay the prevailing party’s lemon law lawyer fees in a successful lemon law suit, as do most state lemon laws. Lemon Laws vary from state to state — therefore, accurate info on the scope and restrictions of Lemon Laws in a particular state should be obtained from a “Lemon Law Attorney” practicing in your state.