The PA Lemon Law provides for recovery of your reasonable attorney fees. In addition, experienced lemon law firms in PA pay the costs of your lawsuit up front so that you do not have any out of pocket expenses in pursuing a lemon law claim.
I practice law in Pennsylvania with a concentration on Lemon Law and Breach of Warranty issues for vehicles. Our state Lemon Law protects consumers who have purchased defective vehicles, and it’s a pretty powerful statute. The best provision in the law, in my opinion, is that it allows for recovery of your reasonable attorney fees.
In Pennsylvania, under a typical lawsuit, there is no recovery of attorney fees. For instance, if you wanted to sue someone who owes you money, you would likely have to hire an attorney and pay him/her a retainer out of your pocket. Then, whether you win or lose the lawsuit, you must realize that you will not get your attorney fees back. Its considered a cost of filing a lawsuit here in PA.
On the other hand, as mentioned previously, the Lemon Law has a provision that allows for recovery of attorney fees. Because the law is so generous and consumer oriented in regard to attorney fees, you will not ever have to pay a retainer to an attorney who handles these types of matters, at least not if he/she is versed in the law. (You should really not consider hiring an attorney who asks for a retainer on an actual lemon law case). At the time of the writing of this article, I can say that there are only about 5-6 law firms based in Pennsylvania who specialize in Lemon Law cases, and I can say with certainty that none of them would ask for a retainer on a Lemon Law case. In addition, I believe that all of these firms actually pay for the costs of the lawsuit (filing fees, expert witness fees, etc...) so that you do not have to spend anything out of pocket to pursue a claim.
As there is no attorney fee out of pocket, its pretty much a no-brainer when deciding whether to hire an attorney and present a lemon law claim. The only issue, as mentioned previously, is to make sure that you hire an experienced lemon law attorney who is versed in the attorney fee provision.
Can a Collection Agency threaten...?
Most Collection agency threats are illegal. They generally cannot "threaten" to do anything that is illegal, and they cannot "threaten" to take an action that they do not intend to actually take.
Debt Management Companies, do they work?
Debt Management programs often charge outrageous up front fees and provide little or no benefit to consumers.
The 6 Step Pennsylvania Lemon Law Test
Take the PA Lemon Law Test to see if you are driving a lemon. If you are, then you can present a claim for a full refund of the purchase price or a free replacement vehicle.
