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Clark Hill Wins for BMW in Lemon Law Hearing

August 12, 2024

Adam Diamond and Aly Pittman successfully defended BMW in a Lemon Law administrative trial before the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

The claimant sought $110,000 in damages by alleging her 2023 vehicle had numerous defects. Diamond and Pittman convinced the Hearing Examiner that all complaints raised in the proceeding had already been remedied, and other claims did not fall within the statutory scope of proceedings.

“They were trying to raise new issues that were not within the statutory remedy and weren’t within the scope of the proceeding. Our client wasn’t given a fair opportunity to address these complaints,” Diamond said. “That was critical because we established that everything else had been taken care of and repaired already. The hearing examiner agreed with that, and that was the basis of the opinion.”

Diamond explained that in Lemon Law cases, the consumer has to provide adequate notice to the manufacturer regarding the alleged claims and defects to provide an opportunity to repair. The Clark Hill team proved that the complaints in the notice were already remedied prior to the proceedings and subsequent complaints were not within the statutory scope of proceedings.

“Our defense centered on establishing that all issues for which proper notice was provided were remedied and that none of the new allegations were within the scope of the proceeding,” Diamond said. “For these newer complaints, we were never given a chance to fix them.” He emphasized that a strong defense in these types of claims is to ensure the manufacturer’s due process rights are protected.

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