Lemon Laws

Chrysler says it will reissue checks to frustrated customers awaiting payments stemming from lemon law complaints against the automaker. Lawyers throughout the country had reported that dozens of settlement checks had bounced in the wake of Chrysler's April 30 bankruptcy filing.

Chrysler's bankruptcy is throwing a wrench into California's lemon law, which is intended to make it easier for consumers to get refunds for defective vehicles. As the automaker's bankruptcy grinds away, settlement checks from Chrysler to unhappy car buyers are bouncing and complaints are stymied in and out of court. Consumer advocates say the situation could erode public confidence in buying new cars at precisely the time the automakers need customers in their showrooms.

Robert G. Beverly, a Republican who served in the state Legislature for nearly 30 years and may be best known for consumer-protection legislation that led to California's lemon laws, has died. He was 84. Beverly, who also was a lawyer, died Wednesday of complications related to Parkinson's disease at his home in Manhattan Beach, said his son William. Beginning in 1967, Beverly represented the South Bay in the Assembly. Nine years later, he jumped to the Senate to represent the 27th District, which eventually stretched from Rolling Hills to Downey.

The state Supreme Court ruled that a car buyer who sues unsuccessfully under California's "lemon law" must pay the manufacturer's court costs, not including attorneys' fees. The 6-1 ruling applies to all suits seeking replacement or reimbursement for a defective product under a state warranty law. A lawyer for vehicle manufacturers said the great majority of those suits involve the 1982 lemon law.

Real estate agents and other small-business owners would be protected by the state's revised "lemon law" under legislation approved by the Assembly. AB 1848, by Assemblywoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego), passed the 80-member chamber by a 64-10 margin with strong bipartisan support. The bill would expand protections for consumers who unwittingly purchase faulty new cars.

State motor vehicle officials, fearing damage to dealers and public inconvenience, Friday rejected a judge's proposal to bar Chrysler Corp. from delivering new cars to California dealers for 60 days as punishment for illegally reselling defective vehicles.

No one alerted Dan Chaisayant that the used 1989 Dodge Daytona had a long history of mechanical problems when he bought it from a San Jose Chrysler dealer in 1992. He found out about the car two years too late, when the California Department of Motor Vehicles in 1994 charged Chrysler with selling 119 lemons to used-car buyers without disclosing previous problems with the vehicles.

* Putting the squeeze on legislators Representatives from a couple of consumer groups dumped a wheelbarrow full of lemons on the doorstep of Assemblyman Jim Morrissey's campaign office on Wednesday to protest his role in killing a revised and strengthened lemon law in the last legislative session.

Chrysler Corp. has appealed a decision to suspend its state business license. The move delays indefinitely sanctions that would bar the company from shipping vehicles to California for 45 days. The Department of Motor Vehicles last month suspended Chrysler's California business license for 45 days as punishment for selling 116 "lemons" without warning potential buyers.

In the latest twist in a long-running case, the Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday banned Chrysler from shipping vehicles into California for 45 days as punishment for violations of the state lemon law. Chrysler said it will appeal the ruling, a step that would postpone the ban indefinitely. The DMV said its decision, if implemented, could cost Chrysler and its dealers as much as $15 million in lost sales. The unprecedented ruling is the outcome of a DMV investigation that began in 1993.