Consumer Law/Consumer Defense

SERVING THE RESIDENTS OF LONG BEACH CONSUMER LAW/CONSUMER DEFENSE ATTORNEYS, ORANGE COUNTY CONSUMER LAW/CONSUMER DEFENSE ATTORNEYS, AND THE GREATER LOS ANGELES COUNTY CONSUMER LAW/CONSUMER DEFENSE ATTORNEYS

Smith & Garg, are experienced Consumer Law/Consumer Defense Attorneys that will aggressively pursue your case, no matter what your particular situation may be. Skilled, effective and reliable, our firm’s primary goal is to provide top-quality consumer legal services. If you or someone you know suspect that you are a victim of consumer fraud, unfair debt collection, unfair credit reporting, or if you think that you have bought a lemon, contact the Long Beach, Los Angeles, Orange County, California Consumer Law/Consumer Defense Attorneys at Smith & Garg today.

CALIFORNIA LEMON LAW

You may have heard the term “Lemon Law” and pondered the meaning of it, as most people do when they first hear it. Essentially, Lemon Laws were created for the consumer to protect them with regards to certain types of consumer transactions. More specifically, the California Lemon Law and the Federal Lemon Law, which are also referred to as “the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act” allow for legal remedies to California consumers by providing compensation for defective cars, trucks, motorcycles, RV’s, boats, and other consumer products, such as computers and appliances. Compensation due to victory in such cases can be in the form of a refund, replacing the defective item, or receiving an award of cash. Typically, in order to meet the criteria either under the California Lemon Law or the Federal Lemon Law, the California consumer must have attempted to repair the defective product several times under the manufacturer’s factory warranty without any success. If you think that you fall under this category, contact the California Lemon Law Attorneys at Smith & Garg today, so that we can defend your consumer rights.

CONSUMER FRAUD

All of the fifty states have statutory law that prohibits unfair and deceptive acts and practices which are abbreviated UDAP for convenience. Most of these jurisdictions, with the exception of the state of Iowa, allow for a private right of action for damages, as well as substantive remedies to the consumer such as treble damages, punitive damages, minimum statutory damages, and attorney fees to the prevailing consumer. These state UDAP statutes regulate consumer law, and most of them accommodate a broad, flexible definition of deception and unfairness and are thus well-suited to attack emerging forms of consumer fraud. For the most part, these types of statutes can be broadly applied to all or almost all businesses that deal with consumers. Additionally, since the state UDAP statutes typically define unfair and deceptive acts and practices in general and broad terms, the courts will often resort to other legal sources. For example, consumers have successfully used state UDAP statutes to enforce rules or requirements under other statutes and regulations designed to protect the consumer.

Unfair and deceptive acts and practice statutes were actually created and enforced in order to relax the rules a bit on common law fraud, and in most cases, a UDAP claim is preferred over a fraud claim. However, if a consumer can show that the defendant’s deception or unfairness was in fact intentional, or if he or she can show that that the defendant has repetitively committed the same acts or the same type of deception, then the consumer should seriously consider a common law fraud claim. The reason why the consumer should consider a common law fraud claim in these circumstances is because the amount of compensation that the court may award is significant, especially when there is a possibility of punitive damages, which is the case in most jurisdictions. That being said, it may be harder to prove a common law fraud claim as the standard of evidence that must be provided is higher, but, the positive side of the coin is that the consumer will not have to worry about UDAP statutes’ restrictions or limitations as they are inapplicable when it comes to common law fraud actions. Also, another advantage for the consumer who may not have the option of a jury trial for UDAP claims, depending on what state they are in, will have that alternative when pursuing common law fraud claims.

You may be wondering about what types of situations would entitle a consumer to file a consumer fraud claim. Some illustrations may be helpful. For example, let’s say you purchased a brand new vehicle, and later discover that there was something wrong with it before it was even sold to you. Same example, except you find out that your brand new vehicle was actually a rental car before you purchased it, which was not disclosed to you at the time of purchase. Using the same example, except this time you discover that the odometer of your new vehicle had been tampered with prior to purchase. Using a similar example, but in this situation, you have just purchased a used vehicle, and soon realize that the seller made several misrepresentations with regards to the mechanical condition of the vehicle, or claimed to have title to the vehicle at time of purchase when he or she really did not, or say the seller intentionally sells you a trade-in, instead of a new car. These are all common examples of what constitutes consumer fraud, and as you can see, misrepresentations of facts and misrepresentation of warranties exists in each of these scenarios. If you feel that you have a consumer fraud claim, contact the Consumer Fraud Attorneys at Smith & Garg today, to get you the justice that you deserve!

FAIR DEBT COLLECTION LAWS

Whether you were aware of it or not, debt collectors are required to conduct themselves in a certain manner, and the entire debt collection process is not only regulated by state law, but also federal laws. What does that mean? Well, basically, fair (fair to the consumer) debt collection laws have been set forth which specifically define permissible and impermissible methods that the debt collector must abide by when trying to collect a consumer debt. For example, a debt collector may not harass, oppress, or abuse a consumer or a third party connected to the consumer, or contact the consumer at inconvenient times or places, or continue to do so after the consumer has asked the collector to stop. Thus, the debt collector should not use threats of violence or harm, use obscene or profane language when communicating with the debtor, or repetitively call the debtor with the intention to annoy him or her. Also, debt collectors may not use false or misleading statements when trying to collect. Therefore, the debt collector cannot lie about their identity and falsely claim to be an attorney, government employee, or employee of a credit bureau; tell the consumer that he or she is going to be arrested if he or she doesn’t pay the debt; lie about the amount of the debt owed; or lie about any documents that have been sent to the debtor by claiming that they are legal documents when they are not, or vice versa. Additionally, the debt collector may not resort to unfair practices when collecting a debt. That means that the debt collector may not use deception to try and get the debtor accept collect calls or pay for telegrams; threaten to take the debtor’ property unless the collector has legal authority to do so; or try to contact the debtor through postcards. Of course, if you have a claim against a debt collector for violating these laws, it doesn’t relieve you of your obligation to pay off your debts.

With regards to what your remedies are if a debt collector violates any of the fair debt collection laws, you may sue the collector within one year from the date of the violation, in state or federal court. If you are successful, you could potentially recover monetary damages, as well as an additional amount up to $1,000.00. Also, the consumer-debtor may recover attorney’s fees and court costs involved in pursuing such a claim. Class action suits are also an alternative, where a group of consumer-debtors file suit against a debt collector, they can recover monetary damages up to $500,000, or one percent of the debt collectors’ net worth; whichever is the lesser of the two options. If you feel that your consumer rights have been violated by a debt collector, call the Fair Debt Collection Attorneys at Smith & Garg today for a consultation.

FAIR CREDIT REPORTING LAWS

As I am sure you are already aware of, somewhere out there is a credit history or file on you if you have ever applied for a credit card, or applied for a loan, or for insurance, or even when you apply for a job. And of course this file also includes information about you like where you live, where you work, whether you have ever been sued or arrested, filed for bankruptcy, and even how you pay your bills. The type of companies that collect this type of information and sell it to creditors, employers, insurers, and other businesses are called Consumer/Credit Reporting Agencies, and obviously the first of these to come to mind are the three big national credit bureaus, Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian.

Just as debt collectors must abide by statutory rules and regulations, so do credit or consumer reporting agencies. In fact, similar to the fair debt collection laws, state and federal fair credit reporting statutes were created to regulate the manner in which credit/consumer reporting agencies report consumer credit. These statutes promote the accuracy and privacy of information kept and distributed by the nation's consumer reporting companies by defining how information must be recorded, verified and safeguarded. Violating the fair credit reporting laws does not only apply when consumer reporting agencies have reported your credit inaccurately, but also is applicable if the credit report contains information that is incomplete, disputed or outdated. Any inaccurate reporting or violations of these fair credit reporting laws can be quite damaging as your credit report or your credit history can have a strong impact on several aspects of your life, like whether you qualify for a loan or a mortgage, buying or leasing a car, getting insurance, or even getting a job. What are the repercussions of such violations? Well, a consumer that has a legitimate claim and is successful can be awarded compensatory damages, additional damages up to $1000.00 per violation, attorney ’s fees and court costs for pursuing the matter, and of course the consumer’s credit will not only be corrected, but protected in the future. If you think that you have suffered damages due to incorrect credit reporting by a credit reporting agency or credit bureau, contact the Fair Credit Reporting Attorneys at Smith & Garg today for a consultation.

Call Garg and Associates today at 1.877.517.4275 or complete our contact form and let us assist you with your consumer defense needs.