Arcadia Lemon Law

Most Song-Beverly cases brought by Arcadia residents are filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court — typically the Pasadena Courthouse at 300 E. Walnut Street in Pasadena for the local district, or the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 N. Hill Street in downtown LA for unlimited civil cases over $35,000 (depending on judicial assignment and case type). Federal Magnuson-Moss claims may be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in downtown Los Angeles. Your attorney will weigh venue based on these factors.

Not for your Song-Beverly claim. Under California law, the lemon-law action runs against the vehicle's manufacturer, not the selling dealer. Whether you bought in Arcadia, Pasadena, Glendale, or anywhere in Los Angeles County, the same repair-or-replace obligations apply to the OEM. The selling dealer is only a defendant if you're also pleading fraud, misrepresentation, or implied-warranty claims. Keep your purchase contract and every repair order from any dealership that worked on the vehicle.

Yes — Song-Beverly applies to all new motor vehicles sold or leased in California with a manufacturer's written warranty, used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. There is no MSRP ceiling. Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Lucid, Rivian, and Tesla are all covered. Civil penalties of up to 2x actual damages under Cal. Civ. Code 1794(c) apply to willful violations, which on high-MSRP vehicles can produce substantial recovery. Keep every repair order and dealer communication.

Yes. Cal. Civ. Code 1791(g) expressly defines 'buyer' to include lessees under retail leases of consumer goods, and Tanner Act remedies apply to leases of new motor vehicles. If you qualify for a repurchase, the manufacturer must terminate the lease, refund your capitalized cost reduction, monthly payments, registration and license fees, and pay off the residual to the leasing company. The mileage offset under Cal. Civ. Code 1793.2(d)(2)(C) still applies. Civil penalties of up to 2x actual damages are available for willful violations.

Increasingly, yes. Persistent infotainment reboots, parking-camera blackouts, and ADAS disengagements are common warranty defects on newer software-defined luxury vehicles, and dealer reflashes that fail to resolve the problem count as repair attempts under California law. If the same nonconformity persists after four or more attempts within 18 months/18,000 miles, the Tanner Act presumption applies. Document every visit including the software version and any TSB references, and save any owner's-app or dashboard screenshots showing the fault.

Cal. Civ. Code 1794(c) and (e) authorize a civil penalty of up to 2x actual damages where the manufacturer's failure to comply with Song-Beverly was willful. 'Willful' generally means the manufacturer knew of its obligations, knew the vehicle qualified for repurchase or replacement, and refused to honor them. Internal documents, TSBs, recall history, and the manufacturer's response to your demand letter are all relevant. On high-MSRP luxury vehicles, the combined actual-damages-plus-2x-penalty exposure can be substantial, which is one reason these cases often settle before trial.

California's Song-Beverly breach-of-warranty action runs four years from the date of breach under Cal. Com. Code 2725, with the clock typically starting when the manufacturer fails to repair within a reasonable number of attempts. AB 1755 (effective 2025) added an outer-limit deadline: new claims must be filed within one year after express warranty expiration and no later than six years from original delivery. Don't wait — once your warranty expires you have a hard one-year window. Talk to a lemon-law attorney as soon as your dealer has failed to fix the same problem multiple times.