Mercedes-Benz Fined $10,000 Under Lemon Law
A lawyer in California has successfully argued against the company of Mercedes-Benz regarding the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act when the company would apparently not take possession and buy back a vehicle that was found to have a trunk leak. The $128,000 verdict was rendered by the jury in late September, in Los Angeles, and included a $10,000 civil penalty against the company for violating California Lemon Law. Interestingly, this judgment represents the fourth time that the company has been cited for engaging in a willful lemon law violation.
The particular issue in this case involved a trunk leak in a 2009 Mercedes SL 550R. The man who owned the car brought his vehicle to the dealership on four different occasions and also had a meeting with factory representatives of Mercedes to diagnose and fix the problem. The plaintiff also sent photographs and videos of the leak in an attempt to communicate to the company the issues that were happening with the vehicle.
Apparently, Mercedes was unable to fix the problem and even suggested that the plaintiff had attempted to fix the issue on his own and by doing so had attempted authorize repairs. The lawyer for the plaintiffs said that that was a ridiculous notion and that the jury didn’t buy that explanation. The jury seemed also to be influenced by the fact that leaks in other Mercedes trunks have been an issue for the company. Advice from the legal counsel for the plaintiff to anyone with a potential leak in their Mercedes trunk is to document the issue with as many pictures as possible.
