Cupertino Lemon Law

Most Song-Beverly cases brought by Cupertino residents are filed in the Santa Clara County Superior Court — typically the Downtown Superior Court at 191 N. First Street in San Jose for unlimited civil cases over $35,000. Federal Magnuson-Moss claims may be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose. Venue choice depends on the manufacturer's residency, amount in controversy, and tactical considerations like jury composition and discovery rules. Your attorney will weigh these factors when filing.

Yes. Repeated software updates and over-the-air patches that fail to resolve a defect generally count as repair attempts under California law. Battery degradation outside normal parameters, persistent thermal-management faults, DC fast-charging failures, Autopilot disengagements, and high-voltage system warnings are common warranty complaints on newer EVs. The Tanner Act doesn't distinguish between mechanical and software repair attempts — if the same nonconformity persists after four or more attempts within 18 months/18,000 miles, the presumption applies. Document every service visit including OTA logs.

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 Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, or anywhere else in the South Bay, 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. 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, calculated from miles before the first repair attempt. Civil penalties of up to 2x actual damages are available for willful violations.

It can be. Battery degradation outside normal parameters, persistent thermal-management faults, DC fast-charging failures, and high-voltage system warnings are increasingly common warranty complaints on newer EVs. Manufacturers' battery warranties typically cover capacity loss below a specified threshold (often 70%) within 8 years/100,000 miles. If the dealer has attempted to repair or address the same problem four or more times within 18 months/18,000 miles, the Tanner Act presumption applies. Save your owner's-app screenshots showing degraded range and every service order.

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. Combined with actual damages, this creates a treble-exposure ceiling, which is one reason California manufacturers often settle qualifying cases 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.