OMGOSH! I am going to win the case against the car dealer!

[susiestar]

I don't know what your lawyer would say about it, or if your state laws would allow you to include violating ADA regs in the suit. I do know that it could be a leverage point for your attorney if he were to tell the dealer that if a settlement offer isn't approved then the ADA violations would be included in your suit. Any jury seeing a disabled woman who got swindled into purchasing a car that if it did run would not have even a prayer of keeping her from being seriously hurt and likely further disabled would be even harder on the defendant. At least that is how it works here.

I am sure a jury would find you sympathetic and while that doesn't change the laws, it DOES change how juries see you and how harshly they treat their rulings. What you can do with those violations is one thing, how they can be used as leverage is another, Know what I mean??

I am glad you did not let this go and you stood up for yourself. This dealership has probably swindled hundreds of people, if not more, and taking the original documents when the car is brought in for repair is probably standard awful procedure. Part of me wonders how he treats his mechanics? ONe of them willing to move to a new company might be willing to testify that it is standard to remove paperwork if a newly purchased car is brought in for repairs. Or an employee who left the business might be willing to come forward.

 

[Nomad]

Interesting idea Susie. This place was not to ADA regs. To even get up to the desk to see and fill out documents I had to climb up these incredibly steep steel steps. They had a railing so I was able to get up slowly. It was also very dimly lit.

Personally I found a different, and in my opinion better, way to check out cars. Its called AutoCheck and that came back with even more information than Carfax did.

Good for you! Great holiday present!!!!!! NICE! Congrats!!!

 

[DammitJanet]

well today things took a turn for the worse. Honestly since this lawyer had never said anything about fees, I thought he would do it the same way auto accident lawyers work. I know the word but cant spell it! Well, nope. He wants $250 an hour. He also said the "injuries" I suffered may not make up to a whole lot of money, probably not the entire treble damages plus it could take up to a year to even hope this got started. He also said if we decided to settle, he would get 40% of the settlement or the amount of fees that I had already paid, whichever was higher. Sigh. I cant afford that. If I could afford to pay that much an hour I would just trade this car in and buy a new one!

Now it looks like I am going to have to go it alone. I think I can do it but one of my biggest questions is do I file in the county I bought the car in or do I do it in the county that the main dealership is in which also happens to be my county. Im hoping its the county I bought the car in because I dont know who this dealer is friends with in my county. I do know he gave money to help fund our national senator from this area so I dont know if he helped any judges campaigns too.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I would suggest calling legal aid now. In my limited knowledge, since we are not talking intrastate but intracounty, I wouldn't think it matters where you file since the it is the state statute they have violated. Make sure your suit is against both the "parent" company and the local dealership should you be in doubt.

Don't forget the statute in your state puts the obligation of proof on the dealership not you. You file, the state investigates.

Sharon

 

[DammitJanet]

It is actually two counties but from what I read overnight, I should file in the county I bought the product. Works for me.

Right now I am trying to figure out just what my damages are. I looked online for what a 2005 would cost now and then I took off the 40% that supposedly effects the worth of a car if it had been totaled.

I did find out how they managed to not have the title salvaged. If the car is sold directly to a salvage yard, then the original title follows the car and if it hadnt been labeled as salvaged before, it wouldnt be labeled that to the salvage yard. That means when the salvage yard sells the car, it wont have a salvage title. Idiotic if you ask me.

Anyway after learning what I approximate the car should be worth, then I have to figure out my "injuries". ADA has nothing to do with it and would have to be a completely separate thing. However I think I can say that since I have not had use of my car since 9/21, and I took it to the dealer to request it be fixed, then I should be awarded what a rental car would have cost me all this time. If I had the money I would have rented a car several times at least. I had to cancel some doctor appts and make them for when Billy could take me. Monkey missed all but one class in gymnastics the month of November. I even couldnt take Cory and the baby up to Jamie's for Xmas because my truck is too small. In the end it really is up to the judge/jury what my injuries are worth.

Im just gonna have to be a lawyer...lol. I have done it before in a traffic case and won against a lawyer who is now a sitting judge.

 

[susiestar]

If you didn't rent a car, then I doubt you get the rental fees because you don't have receipts for them. fees for changing appts like cancellation fees etc.. would be included. The gymnastics fees for the sessions she didn't attend would also be included. I would figure some fee for missing the holiday though I am not sure it would be allowed, mostly because you can always be told no but you don't ever get what you don't ask for. Also include any towing, cost for someone to come get you when it broke down, etc... If you use a taxi, get a receipt and use that in the claim. I would include emotional damages for being stranded on the side of the road and afraid that someone could stop and hurt you or that yuou could have been hit by a car. Include any amount of increased groceries due to having to make more trips because you could not fit the groceries from a regular trip in your vehicle, etc.... Include increased gas use due to more trips being made and/or the truck using more gas (which is why you got the car in the first place, or so you want to claim).

There may be other damages. To try to find them, google "damages to claim when suing over lemon car" or other phrases that are similar.

The ADA stuff would be an add on separate issue to use as leverage. It was included as an extra to try to get the dealership to give you a better deal rather than a real claim. Of course it IS a real claim, but it is something to use to give leverage more than an issue you are passionate about the way you are about the car, Know what I mean?? It lets you tell the dealer that you are willing to drop the ADA stuff and settle for X amount rather than the X-Y amount the dealer wants to offer.

Try calling other attorneys and asking if they will take this on a part of the settlement or pro bono. all they can do is say no, and when you have this law, it is likely they can easily win. The 40% of the settlement is pretty standard and gives them incentive to win a large settlement. They get bigger settlements by tossing in things like the ADA stuff. I bet if you call around you could find someone who is willing to take this on contingency, meaning no settlement or win equals no payment from you. Otherwise, find a law school and look for a clinic or a student who might be willing to advise you. By clinic I mean an organized place where the law students work under the supervision of a prof who is a licensed atty and they take cases for people with very little money for this type of thing.

 

[DammitJanet]

Some of those things like the truck using more gas I couldnt claim because I got the SUV because I was looking ahead to the fact I may one day need to use a scooter. It would be too hard for me to get it in and out of the truck. I cant even lift my wheelchair in and out. The truck does get better gas mileage because its a tiny 23 year old Toyota. I also never had cancellation fees for doctor appts because I knew ahead of time that I couldnt make it on the day and needed to change it. The reason I think they should pay the minimum amount for a rental car is because they had the opportunity to fix the car under the warranty and refused to even look at it. I dont have the money to pay to fix it. I have realized through looking into how to do this myself that it will take at least 6 months before I can get everything in front of a judge. There is one last letter I am going to write to the dealer just in case he will settle and Im really doing that so I can show that I have made every effort to let them deal with this situation before I go to court. I seriously doubt he will agree with what I am asking though.

 

[jal]

Janet, I would contact the Better Business Bureau in your area and your local tv station. They always have a segment to help someone who was wronged by a business. Get around the lawyers etc. Get your due without costing you

Sent using ConductDisorders mobile app

 

[DammitJanet]

I am going to contact the BBB but they cant actually make them do anything. Neither can the TV station. I will contact both once I go through court. I know this company wont do anything without being ordered to. In fact they may not pay when they are ordered to and I will have to serve a judgement on them to take assets.

 

[MyFriendKita]

If you didn't rent a car, then I doubt you get the rental fees because you don't have receipts for them.

I'm not an attorney, but I believe the loss of the use of your car falls under the category of general damages (http://voices.yahoo.com/what-difference-between-general-6439292.html). I was able to get this from an insurance company when I was involved in an accident that wasn't my fault, even though I didn't actually rent a car. I gave them a reasonable amount for what it would have cost me to rent a car multiplied by the number of days I was without my car. They paid it without a fight.

 

[donna723]

The TV station may not be able to do anything legally, but a good investigative reporter can make them look so bad that they will begging you to take their money! Usually the TV people LOVE to get hold of something like this! Revealing how they operate and how they treat their customers could very well ruin their business and they know it! And they have probably done the same things to a lot of other customers before they did it to you! And some of them probably filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Adding yours to it will just help your cause. I'm sure they have probably been pulling the same stunts for years with other customers. They didn't just start this with you, you know!

 

[TerryJ2]

Has it gone to court yet? Once the case if filed, the dealer will probably back down and do whatever you want, and you won't have to go to court. Any news?

 

[witzend]

The BBB won't do a thing for you. been there done that in this state. It will make him look bad, and if when you file you ask them to mediate a solution you might get somewhere. But if you don't ask, they won't and he'll likely just not answer. After a few months his rating will go right back up unless he closes out that business license and opens under a new one. I'd look him up at the Secretary of State's online licensing page and see how many businesses he's been associated with. Then I'd make a complaint to the State Attorney General noting what happened to you and also any and all business names he has operated under. People don't start a new business for the fun of it. They start a new business to get out from under something.

 

[Signorina]

Filing a complaint w the BBB doesn't cost anything and it's worth a shot.

I filed a complaint against my physician's hospital based billing office because they were balance billing me even tho my EOB stated $0 and I hadn't gotten anywhere with them despite 6 months of letters to the billing office! (We had two insurers and the idiot in receivables actually told me that means we owe TWO copays) It was the BBB complaint that solved the issue (for one bill) in less than 24 hours.

Just this week, I filed a BBB complaint against Sirius because they refused to honor the promotional price I had been guaranteed IN WRITING and the jerk who called actually told me he didn't give a darn and wouldn't honor it. Within 24 hours of filing the complaint, I had the deal they promised originally.

So, try it among the other remedies suggested. Also, try tweeting and fb'ing your issues and see if it helps.