New Jersey Lemon Law Lawyer Blog

The Truth in Lending Act is liberally construed to protect consumers” Burnett v. Ala Moana Pawn Shop, 3 F.3d 1261, 1262 (9th Cir. 1993). Congress enacted the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. (TILA)) in recognition that uniform credit disclosures would enhance "the competition among the various financial institutions and other firms engaged in the extension of consumer credit," and "assure a meaningful disclosure of credit terms so that the consumer will be able to compare more readily the various credit terms available to him and avoid the uninformed use of credit." (15 U.S.C. § 1601(a).) In this regard, TILA protects consumers from inaccurate and unfair credit practices. (Ibid.; (D.N.M.1998) 12 F.Supp.2d 1230, 1232.) To address the problem of buried finance charges, Regulation Z extends TILA's coverage to all credit transactions " 'for which either a finance charge is or may be imposed.' " (1974) 12 Cal.3d 915, 920, 117 Cal.Rptr. 541, 528 P.2d 357, citing former 12 C.F.R. § 226.2(k).) TILA's purposes have led the courts to strictly enforce its requirements as well as those of Regulation Z. 12 F.Supp.2d at p. 1232.)

The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act is one of the most powerful in the nation. It provides for the mandatory awarding of triple damages for any ascertainable loss. As an example if you have lost one dollar you would be entitled to three dollars in damages. If the defendant has committed consumer fraud the claimant would also be entitled to an award of attorney fees and costs.

The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act requires that the claimant has sustained an ascertainable loss to receive a recovery under the act. Under certain circumstances fees can be awarded with no ascertainable loss.

Cases

Weinberg v. Sprint Corp., 173 N.J. 233, 240 (2002) (Plaintiff need only present a fact issue to the jury as to whether there is an ascertainable loss to have fees awarded even if the jury awards no damages)

This site provides significant insight into what is going on in the automotive industry. There are statistics that explain where the dealers are making money: New car, used cars and service department. It counts the dealers in each state and explains. The NADA data section is worth a quick look.

New Jersey places the responsibility upon titled owners to brand titles under certain circumstances to put a subsequent purchaser on notice as to some defective condition. As an example the New Jersey Lemon Law requires buy backs to be branded by the manufacturer. New Jersey Law also requires cars that have been totaled by insurance companies to have a branded title if the cost to repair is greater than the actual cash value of the car.

The purpose of these laws is to make sure all purchasers of these car are aware of the history of the cars.

What is this? What is Augieland?
It has nothing to do with auto fraud, lemon law, used car lemon law, breach of warranty or the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. But if you like to eat out in the metropolitan area, mostly Manhattan, this site is a can't miss. He appears at the top restaurants in the area and gives an honest review. He also appears to have extensive experience with wine and would suggest you browse the site. It is a must.

New Jersey has one of the strongest consumer laws in the country and it is known as the Consumer Fraud Act. It applies to both the sale and attempted sale of goods and services. It is liberally construed to effectuate the remedial purpose of the statute.

It applies to the sale of real estate and financial products such as life insurance. There are a host of associated regulations that were created to enforce the act: Automotive repair, automotive advertising, general advertising, sale of used cars, labeling of foods, the leasing of cars, home improvements and even the sale of furniture

The act requires the tripling of any damages and requires the court to award attorney fees

I had a client call me today with complaints against Craftmatic. The allegation was that he forwarded a payment on time and was not credited until there was a TREMENDOUS late fee that was activated by the late payment and an increase in the interest rate. I did some research and found a Craftmatic complaint site on the web AND it appears that there are many unhappy customers.

It appears that there was also an investigation by West Virginia and a large settlement.

If you have a Craftmatic bed and you have any complaints please contact me for a free consultation .

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Carton and Rudnick

In New Jersey you have the right to view public records with some exceptions. The law is also know as OPRA wherein the is a presumption that all government records are open to public view. The State has done a great job in making the records available online As an example there is an investigation by the Attorney General's Office into Cherry Hill Tri Plex an auto dealership. You can request and receive the pleadings filed by the State. The Counties and the local towns do not have online access, but they do usually post the instructions on their web sites. As an example Camden has this on their website.

The Asbury Park Press is reporting that there have been indictments of Michael Kouvaras, 55, of Maplewood and Salvatore Rivello, 56, of Matawan. They were indicted for theft by deception, identity theft, deceptive business practices and defrauding secured creditors. I will be getting a copy of the indictment form the Prosecutors Office so as to comment further. The dealership was Chrysler of Eatontown according to the Press. Will follow up with details.

When you negotiate with a car salesman you need to remember some important statistics. There are over 21,000 new car dealerships in the country and over 550 new car dealerships in the State of New Jersey. The car you want is at another dealership, probably for less. Get up and walk out, if you can. This might not be a real option if they have your trade vehicle and it is lost or sold or they can't find it anywhere.

All you need to do is look at all the advertising on the web and in the newspaper to see the level of competition. You actually have the upper hand. also try to have financing approved before you enter the dealership so you have the leverage. Get everything in writing. Do not trust anybody.Never go to the dealership alone. Some more help

Good Luck..

The national Consumer Law Center has participated in extensive litigation against some of the largest finance companies in the world alleging that the impact of the loans was to discriminate against either African American or Hispanic consumers. The lawsuits, which exposed practices operated secretly for over 75 years and had resulted in higher-interest rate car loans for minorities, have transformed car financing practices across the industry.

Here is a list of all the suits in which they have participated.

Baltimore v. Toyota Motor Credit Corp
Smith v. Daimler Chrysler Financial
FMCC (Joyce Jones, et al. v. Ford Motor Credit Company)
GMAC (Coleman v. General Motors Acceptance Corporation)
NMAC (Cason v. Nissan Motors Acceptance Corporation)
AHFC (Terry Willis, et al v. American Honda Finance Corporation)
Borlay v. Primus Automotive Financial Services, Inc. and Ford Motor Credit Company
Bank Auto Finance Discrimination Cases

The problem occurred in the selling dealerships right to mark up interest rates which is primarily unregulated by the lenders or the Federal Government. Studies revealed that the dealership conduct in marking up the interest rates on car purchases and financing for Hispanics and African Americans. There was a study performed to prove this fact.

All the settlements, if any, were done without admissions of any wrong doing and the finance companies have ALWAYS denied any wrong doing.

You have a range of choices none of which are really attractive.

Return to the dealership and confront the management. You need to be very confident and have the ability to negotiate against skilled salesman and do it under stress. You don't have a chance. You know it and the dealer knows it. STAY AWAY. Not recommended.

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or the Consumer Affairs Office in your county. They have no ability to force the dealership to do anything. Its all voluntary. Just a further waste of your valuable time.

Hire an attorney and file a lawsuit. This is usually you best option EXCEPT it is hard to find a lawyer that sues car dealership and even harder to find an attorney with significant experience who will not charge an arm and a leg. If you find the right attorney this is your best option.

The consumer laws in New Jersey are expansive and powerful. The Consumer Fraud Act provides for triple damages and counsel fees if you win. This is the only thing that the dealer will understand.

This depends on you comfort level in negotiating with experienced salesman and you ability to have the car inspected that you are purchasing. As a general matter, in my opinion, this is not a good purchase. The term "Certified" means almost nothing. In the context of a used car sale it only means that the manufacturer has issued a warranty on you car and has required the dealer to perform some extensive inspection. Remember this is not free. There is a charge for this warranty, whether the dealer tells you or not. You are purchasing this warranty. Then the dealer tries to sell you an extended service plan. What a joke.

First of all shouldn't the dealer have to inspect the car before they sell the car to the public? Why is this extra? Just purchase you own warranty on the internet and have the car inspected by your own mechanic.

Here is a listing of all the major manufacturers certified used car programs.

After all this is done you might discover that the car was damaged.

I have litigated many consumer fraud claims where the dealer sold a certified used car that was damaged. I have litigated claims where new cars have been damaged.

Many dealerships, of medium to large size have insurance for claims of consumer fraud. One of the largest companies that writes this insurance was Universal Underwriters, which was purchased by Zurich. BUT the coverage , usually only pays for the cost a lawyer and will not pay money to the claimant for any verdict or pay any settlement monies to the plaintiff. Usually this is paid by the dealership out of their pocket.

You would think that this was an easy question. But when the answer is in the context of calculating salesman commissions you might be amazed at how the dealer calculates the answer. The answer should be simple which is the cost at which the dealer acquires the car. The dealership has already been reimbursed for overhead and expenses by charging a "pack" on each deal to each salesman. BUT the dealer ads money to the acquisition price of the used cars, sometimes known as ups or ads. What is either the need or the justification for this? Usually the pay plans are based on profit for the sale of each car, as agreed by the salesman and the dealer. These ups are usually not disclosed to any of the salespeople since it is "none of their business"

If you work in either sales or finance at a car dealership you should start asking some questions about the COST of the used cars that you are selling and how the dealer gets these numbers.

Carton and Rudnick litigates these cases against car dealerships, located at 262 HWY 35 Red Bank NJ 07701, 732-842-2070

I have been looking for internet posts for Cherry Hill Triplex litigation. (2006) I found a case that was filed by a law firm alleging that Cherry Hill Triplex committed consumer fraud. The suit alleged that the dealership took advantage of an older person in need of wheel chair assistance. I do not know the current status of the litigation not do I know what the dealer response was to this allegation. I am sure they denied the claims.

I have browsed the net for other people who have had ISSUES with this dealership and there are some unhappy people out there. Read This.