We often receive calls from consumers who have purchased a used car which does not pass an emissions test. Many times these cars break down soon after purhcase and the consumer calls us lokking for help after the dealer refuses to correct the problem. The Clean Air Laws may provide assistance to the consumer. 

 

This dealer publication recognizes many of the issues of yo yo sales techniques often used by car dealers.  A yo yo sale is one in which the car dealer "sells" a car to a consumer but then later calls the consumer telling them the deal has to be reworked.  http://www.thecomplianceguide.com/content/50

Georgia is NOT one of the few states (Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island) which has enacted a used car lemon law.  There is no lemon law coverage in Georgia for a used car.  However, the dealer may have made misrepresentations about the car, or perhaps even "rigged" or "engineered" the car such that it was presened to the consumer in a deceptive or false manner. The consumer may have remedies.

We recently won an important victory before the Georgia Court of Appeals in a revocation of acceptance case under the UCC (Uniform Commercial Code).  The Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with our arguments and stated:

In this case, Mauk seeks damages for Pioneer's failure to accept her attempted revocation under OCGA § 11-2-608 of her automobile purchase. Because the UCC does not require that a buyer tender unconforming goods to effect the revocation of a sales contract, that portion of Scott holding otherwise is hereby overruled.

I recently resolved another auto fraud case against a major auto lender.  We lost the battle against the arbitration clause but ultimately obtained a decent settlement.

I wanted to report on the successful resolution of an auto fraud case involving an arbitration clause, a repo, and a bad creditor.  It is not a big $$ resolution, but it made me extremely happy to be able to resolve this case for an obviously wronged couple.  The client wife gave me a big hug afterwards.

I was contacted by an elderly black couple from Macon referred by Eric Hunt.  These folks had purchased a barely used Kia from a family owned chain of car stores in the Macon area.  They had several issues with the Kia and took it to a Kia dealer for repairs.  The Kia dealer told them the car had been wrecked and that they could not fix it.  The couple went back to their selling dealer and demanded help.  However, the only offer they ever got would have caused this elderly couple significant loss.

I made demand on the dealer and the finance co for rescission and under OCGA 10-1-390 et seq.  I asserted the FTC Anti Holder language in the contract against the finance co.

The dealer stonewalled. The finance company repo'd the car by dragging it out of my client's garage leaving skid marks, and over the client's objection.  The finance company also put negative information on the client's credit.

The clients were extremely anxious to settle, their health was not good, they were stressed by the prospect of litigation. Today the case settled for a full refund to the clients of all their out of pocket loss plus a significant sum for damages and fees.  The case may have been worth significantly more. That is the short version of the story.  If you want to know more read on.

I recommend and ask that you vote NO on the proposed Constitutional Amendment One that is on the ballot for the General Election November 2.

Georgiahas a sordid track record of misleading voters about the real effect of constitutional amendments.  This is another bad example.

Sometimes, it takes a long time to get a favorable result against a con artist who scams consumers.  There are often times when these con artists drag out proceedings or play games in litigation, preventing you from getting a result. In some cases, there is little likelihood that we can get the money back for the consumer or earn a fee. It takes perserverance from both the consumer attorney and the client to get a result knowing that while the result may not help you, it will help the next consumer.

Arbitration clauses are exploding onto the scene in consumer law.  Recently you may have read a number of editorials by people such as former Attorney General Thornburg about the advantages of arbitration clauses.  The clauses, which are appearing in many more consumer contracts- from credit card agreements to car purchase contracts and mobile home purchase contracts- are anything but consumer friendly. Here’s why.

The most frequently asked question of a consumer lawyer is “Don’t I have 48 (24, 72) hours to back out of the deal.” The simple answer is “No, there is no ‘cooling off’ period in Georgia.”  So don’t sign a contract to buy a car unless you are absolutely sure that you want it and can afford it. Don’t allow the high pressure sales tactics to take advantage of you.

Window Stickers are designed to inform auto consumers about warranties applicable to cars or whether there are not warranties on the car-that is they are sold "AS IS".  Dealers can manipulate the window sticker to defraud consumers.  Here is a report on a recent case.