This is great! This is what clever lawyers are really for.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "wgm4u" <anitaoaks4u@...> wrote:
>
> Woman takes unique road to sue Honda over mileage
> By LINDA DEUTSCH | AP 20 mins ago
>
> TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) A woman who expected her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid to
> be her dream car wants Honda to pay for not delivering the high mileage it
> promised. But rather than joining other owners in a class-action lawsuit, she
> is going solo in small claims court, an unusual move that could offer a
> bigger payout if it doesn't backfire.
>
> A trial is set for Tuesday afternoon in Torrance, where American Honda Motor
> Co. has its West Coast headquarters.
>
> Heather Peters says her car never came close to getting the promised 50 miles
> per gallon, and as its battery deteriorated, it was getting only 30 mpg. She
> wants Honda to pay for her trouble and the extra money she spent on gas.
>
> Peters, a former lawyer who long ago gave up her bar card, has devised a
> unique legal vehicle to drive Honda into court a small claims suit that
> could cost the company up to $10,000 in her case and every other individual
> case filed in the same manner.
>
> If other claimants follow her lead, she estimates Honda could be forced to
> pay $2 billion in damages. No high-priced lawyers are involved and the
> process is streamlined.
>
> "I would not be surprised if she won," said Richard Cupp Jr., who teaches
> product liability law at Pepperdine University. "The judge will have a lot of
> discretion and the evidentiary standards are relaxed in small claims court."
>
> A win for Peters could encourage others to take this simplified route, he
> said.
>
> "There's an old saying among lawyers," Cupp said. "If you want real justice,
> go to small claims court."
>
> But he questioned whether her move, supported by publicity on the Internet
> and elsewhere, would start a groundswell of such suits. He suggested that few
> people would want to expend the time and energy that Peters has put into her
> suit when the potential payoff is as little as a few thousand dollars.
>
> Peters opted out of a series of class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of
> similar Honda hybrid owners when she saw a proposed settlement would give
> owners no more than $200 cash and a rebate of $500 or $1,000 to purchase a
> new Honda.
>
> The settlement would give trial lawyers $8.5 million, Peters said.
>
> "I was shocked," she said. "I wrote to Honda and said I would take $7,500,
> which was then the limit on small claims in California. It is going up to
> $10,000 in 2012."
>
> She said she also offered to trade her hybrid for a comparable car with a
> manual transmission, the only thing she trusted at that point.
>
> "I wrote the letter and I said, 'If you don't respond, I will file a suit in
> small claims court.' I gave them my phone number," she said. "They never
> called, and I filed the suit."
>
> She said she also sent emails to top executives at Honda with no response.
>
> Aaron Jacoby, a Los Angeles attorney who heads the automotive industry group
> at the Arent Fox law firm, said Peters' strategy, while intriguing, is
> unlikely to change the course of class-action litigation.
>
> "In the class-action, the potential claimants don't have to do anything,"
> Jacoby said. "It's designed to be an efficient way for a court to handle
> multiple claims of the same type."
>
> He also questioned her criticism of class-action lawyers for the fees they
> receive. Jacoby, who handles such cases, said lawyers who take on the
> multiple clients involved do extensive work sometimes spanning years and
> are not in it just for money.
>
> "They're representing the underdog and they believe they are performing a
> public duty," he said. "Many of these people could not get lawyers to
> represent them individually."
>
> American Honda's offices were closed for the holidays and no one could be
> reached for comment. Peters said the company has tried five times to delay
> the trial but each effort was rebuffed.
>
> The upside of Peters' unusual move, she says, is that litigants are not
> allowed to have lawyers argue in small claims court in California. This means
> any award will not be diluted by attorney's fees. Honda would have to appoint
> a non-lawyer employee to argue its side in court.
>
> "If I prevail and get $10,000, they have 200,000 of these cars out there.
> That's a potential payout of $2 billion," she said.
>
> While she doubts that all other owners will take the same route, she suggests
> the penalty could be substantial for the company if a large percentage of the
> owners file individually.
>
> A judge in San Diego County is due to rule in March on whether to approve
> Honda's latest class action settlement offer. Members of the class have until
> Feb. 11 to accept or decline the settlement.
>
> Peters has launched a website, DontSettleWithHonda.org, urging others to take
> the small claims route.
>
