Philadelphia Lemon Law Attorney

It's the Pennsylvania one. The city and county have no lemon law of their own, so the statewide Automobile Lemon Law applies. What's local is the courthouse: the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.

It is the Pennsylvania one. The city has no lemon law ordinance of its own, and Philadelphia County has no local version either. The statute is the Automobile Lemon Law, the Act of 28 March 1984, P.L. 150, No. 28, which practitioners cite as 73 P.S. section 1951 and following. It covers a new vehicle bought or leased and registered in Pennsylvania, or bought elsewhere and registered here for the first time. What is local is the courthouse. A Philadelphia claim is filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, the First Judicial District, and if it is worth fifty thousand dollars or less it is heard first by three lawyers at the Arbitration Center on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Same statute across the Commonwealth, a Philadelphia route through it.

In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, part of the First Judicial District. Filings go in electronically or at the Civil Filing Center in Room 296, City Hall, and no state agency screens the claim first.

In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Section 8 of the Act says a purchaser who suffers a loss because the manufacturer did not comply may bring a civil action in a court of common pleas, and for a Philadelphia driver that court is part of the First Judicial District. Filings go through the court's electronic filing system or the Civil Filing Center in Room 296 of City Hall, at Broad and Market. No state agency sits in front of the court. Pennsylvania runs no lemon law board, certifies no manufacturer program, and has no department that screens or decides your claim first. The Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection takes consumer complaints and runs a hotline, but your own Lemon Law claim is yours to bring under section 8.

At $50,000 or less, the Compulsory Arbitration Program hears it first, before three court-certified attorneys at 1880 John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Above that, it stays with the judges of the Trial Division.

At fifty thousand dollars or less, the Arbitration Center first. Philadelphia Civil Rule 1301 assigns every case at or under that figure, apart from title-to-real-estate cases and types the court excludes by order, to the Compulsory Arbitration Program. The complaint is stamped with a hearing date when it is filed. The hearing takes place at 1880 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, fifth floor, in front of a panel of three court-certified attorneys, and the local rules require arbitrators to keep their principal office in Philadelphia County. Above fifty thousand dollars the case stays with the judges of the Trial Division. Which side of the line a claim lands on depends on the price, the collateral charges and the relief asked for, so settle that question before anything is filed.

You can lose the right to a fresh trial. An absent party's case can be heard by a judge that day, and there's no trial de novo from a judge's decision, so treat the date on the complaint as fixed.

You can lose the right to a fresh trial. Rule 1303 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure lets a court warn the parties that if one of them is not present, the matter may be heard the same day in front of a judge without them, and Philadelphia's local Rule 1303 carries that warning into its arbitration notices. It goes on to say there is no right to a trial de novo on appeal from a decision entered by a judge. A party counts as present if it or its lawyer attends. So the arbitration date on the face of the complaint is not a soft date. Put it in the calendar the day the complaint is filed, and tell your lawyer at once if anything clashes with it.

Thirty days from the docket note that notice of the award went out, under Rule 1308. The appealing party pays the arbitrators' compensation, and the appeal brings a new trial before a judge.

Thirty days, and the clock is strict. Under Rule 1308 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, a party appeals an arbitration award by filing a notice of appeal no later than thirty days after the day the prothonotary, in Philadelphia the Office of Judicial Records, notes on the docket that notice of the award has gone out. The appealing party also pays the arbitrators' compensation, capped at half the amount in controversy, and that payment is not recoverable as costs. The appeal buys a lot: 42 Pa.C.S. section 7361(d) gives any party the right to a trial de novo, meaning a new hearing in front of a judge rather than a review of the panel's reasoning. After a final order, an appeal goes to the Superior Court, whose Philadelphia office is on Walnut Street.

Often Pennsylvania's. Section 2 covers a car bought elsewhere and registered for the first time in Pennsylvania, so a New Jersey or Delaware purchase can still be a Pennsylvania lemon.

Very often Pennsylvania's. Section 2 of the Act defines a new motor vehicle to include one purchased or leased elsewhere and registered for the first time in the Commonwealth, so a car bought at a dealer across the river and first registered to a Philadelphia address can still be a Pennsylvania lemon. The other conditions do not change: new and unused, bought mainly for personal, family or household use, and a fault that appears within one year of delivery, 12,000 miles, or the warranty term. One practical point about repairs. Section 4(b) speaks of taking the vehicle to an authorized service facility within the Commonwealth, so where you can, use Pennsylvania dealers for warranty visits, and check with us before relying on repair visits made in another state.

Usually not. Pennsylvania's Act follows registration, so a car registered in New Jersey or Delaware is generally a question for that state's own lemon law.

Usually not, even though we are a short drive away. Pennsylvania's Act turns on registration in the Commonwealth, not on where the dealership sits. A car registered in New Jersey is generally a New Jersey lemon law question, and a car registered in Delaware is a Delaware one. Those states run their own statutes, with their own repair counts, deadlines and procedures, and a Camden or Wilmington driver should read them rather than this Pennsylvania guidance. Buying the car at a Philadelphia dealer does not by itself change that. We cover New Jersey on our New Jersey lemon law page and Delaware on our Delaware lemon law page. If you have moved across a state line since you bought the car, send us both registrations and we can tell you which law you are under.

You can file a small claim, but it rarely fits. Philadelphia Municipal Court's limit is $12,000, and a refund or replacement of a new vehicle almost always runs higher.

You can bring a small claim, but it is rarely the right place for a lemon law case. Philadelphia has no magisterial district judges. Instead, 42 Pa.C.S. section 1123 gives the Philadelphia Municipal Court a civil small claims jurisdiction for sums up to twelve thousand dollars, and the process is built so that parties can proceed without counsel. The Act itself sends a Lemon Law action to a court of common pleas under section 8, and a refund or replacement of a new vehicle almost always exceeds twelve thousand dollars once the price and collateral charges are counted. A claimant can waive part of a larger claim to fit the limit, but that waiver is usually a poor trade. Small claims can suit a narrow dispute over one repair bill or a fee.

No. Pennsylvania has no serious-safety shortcut: a dangerous fault still needs three repairs or 30 calendar days. If it's unsafe to drive, written notice can stand in for bringing the car in.

No. Pennsylvania has no serious-safety shortcut, and that surprises a lot of Philadelphia drivers who have read about other states. Section 6(a) creates the presumption in three paragraphs: three repairs of the same fault with the fault still there, or thirty or more calendar days out of service for any fault, plus a separate rule on parts for motorcycles. None of them is a safety route. A brake or steering failure is mentioned once in the Act, in section 10(b), and what it does there is forbid the resale of such a vehicle anywhere in the Commonwealth after it comes back. It does not lower your repair count. If a fault is dangerous, stop driving the car, and remember that section 4(b) lets written notice stand in for bringing it in.

No. The Act asks you for no letter. Section 7 puts a seven-day certified-mail duty on the dealer after your second visit for the same fault.

No. The Act has no consumer notice step, no statutory form and no required demand letter. Section 7 puts the duty on the dealer instead. Once your vehicle is delivered to the same dealer a second time for repair of the same fault, that dealer has seven days to notify the manufacturer by certified mail, return receipt requested. Section 7 also entitles you to a fully itemized statement of all work, parts and labor included, every single time the vehicle comes back from service. Keep those. Where the fault itself stops you driving the car in, section 4(b) treats written notice to the manufacturer or its repair facility as returning the vehicle, and the manufacturer pays to move it. A written notice in that situation is sensible, and it costs nothing.

Less than most people expect. Section 5 caps it at 10 cents a mile or 10% of the price, whichever is less, counted only on miles before your first report of the fault.

Less than most people expect, because section 5 caps it. The allowance for your use may not exceed ten cents per mile driven or ten percent of the purchase or lease price, whichever is less, and it counts only the miles you drove before your first report of the fault to the manufacturer. The meter stops at that first report. Take a thirty-eight thousand five hundred dollar vehicle first reported at forty-two hundred miles. Ten cents a mile is four hundred and twenty dollars, against a ten percent ceiling of three thousand eight hundred and fifty, so the allowance is four hundred and twenty. Once you elect a refund, section 5 gives the manufacturer thirty days to pay you and any lienholder. Report a fault the first time it happens, in writing.

Qualifying cases run on contingency, with no fee unless we recover for you, and section 8 has the manufacturer pay fees to a purchaser who wins. You're welcome at our South Juniper Street office, though most clients never need to come in.

We handle qualifying lemon law cases on contingency, so there is no upfront fee and no fee unless we recover for you. Section 8 of the Act adds that a purchaser who brings the action shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees and all court costs, in addition to other relief, so fees are paid on top of a recovery rather than out of it. Our Pennsylvania office is at 100 South Juniper Street, third floor, in Center City, a short walk from City Hall, and you are welcome to sit down with us there. Most clients never need to. Bring the itemized repair statements, the purchase or lease agreement, the delivery date, the dates of every visit, and the odometer reading when you first reported the fault.