Remaining payments forgiven. Early termination fees waived. All payments recovered. Your check is handed to you at vehicle surrender.
If your leased vehicle has a defect that the dealership can’t fix — a recurring engine problem, a persistent electrical fault, a transmission that won’t behave, a braking system issue — California’s lemon law doesn’t just give you a partial credit. It can get you completely out of the lease, recover every payment you’ve made, waive every payment you haven’t made yet, and eliminate the early termination fee entirely. You don’t need to reach the end of your lease. You don’t need to accept a pat-on-the-back repair that fails again two months later. You don’t need to keep a defective car until lease end.
These protections come from California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act — considered the strongest state lemon law in the country. California is one of the few states where leased vehicles receive the exact same protections as purchased vehicles. The manufacturer is responsible. An experienced lemon law attorney helps coordinates all three parties involved — you, the manufacturer, and the finance company — so you don’t get lost in circular communication between them.
Court House Lawyers is a Glendale-based lemon law firm with specific experience resolving leased defective vehicle claims. One of the most common misconceptions we encounter is that lessees believe their rights expire when their lease approaches its end date. They don’t. As long as the defect first appeared while the vehicle was under the manufacturer’s warranty, your claim is valid — even in the final months of a 36- or 48-month lease. We’ve filed and won leased vehicle lemon law cases with days to spare before expiry. We handle every step: reviewing your repair records, identifying your strongest remedy option, sending the demand, coordinating the vehicle turn-in, and taking the case to court when that’s what it takes.
Under §1793.2 of the Song-Beverly Act (the Tanner Act Presumption), your leased vehicle can be presumed a lemon if, within 18 months or 18,000 miles of delivery, any of the following applies: two or more repair attempts on a serious safety defect, four or more repair attempts on the same non-safety defect, or more than 30 cumulative days out of service for warranty repairs.
This presumption applies equally to leased and purchased vehicles. Meeting it shifts the burden to the manufacturer — they must prove the vehicle is not a lemon, rather than you having to prove it is. You do not have to meet the presumption to win, but when you do, your leverage changes significantly.
For lease-specific timing: The 18-month / 18,000-mile window is measured from vehicle delivery — not from when you decide to act or when an issue first appeared.
Note: The lemon law presumption does not automatically make the vehicle a lemon but an experienced attorney can use this to argue the vehicle is defective, and certainly not what you expected or bargained for.
Court House Lawyers evaluates your specific situation and pursues the remedy that puts the most money in your pocket or gets you into a reliable vehicle quickly.
Most lessees assume lemon law means one thing: getting out of the lease. In California, there are actually four distinct remedies available to someone with a defective leased vehicle. Which one is best depends on how far into your lease you are, what the remaining payments look like, whether you want a replacement, and how much you’ve already invested. We lay out all four options at your free case review.
The manufacturer rescinds your lease, returns every payment you've made (down payment, monthly payments, taxes, incidentals), forgives every remaining payment, waives the early lease termination fee and gets you out of a defective vehicle. This is the most common remedy we pursue.
You keep the vehicle and continue the lease, but receive a cash payment compensating you for leasing a defective vehicle for the period it was defective. Best when the defect has been resolved but never should have happened.
The manufacturer provides a comparable replacement vehicle with similar lease terms. You get out of the defective car and into a working one. The vehicle and lease usually will not be the same, and is often the resolution the manufacturer wants.
You purchase the defective vehicle at the predetermined lease-end residual price — which is often below market value. Less common but advantageous in a small percentage of cases.
Our team handles every part of your claim: evaluating your repair records, calculating which remedy option maximizes your recovery, filing the demand, negotiations, and litigating when a manufacturer won’t take responsibility or settle fairly.
With Court House Lawyers, you’ll never be left in the dark. Aggressive representation, direct attorney access, zero financial risk, and a promise for the client to receive every penny they are entitled to under the lemon law.
| Court House Lawyers | Typical Lemon Law Firm | |
|---|---|---|
|
Client’s Recovery Check |
Checks always requested to be handed directly to you at vehicle surrender and not routed through our office. |
Check routed through firm; client is left without a car and waiting for funds |
|
Attorney Fees in Lease Buybacks |
Never taken from your recovery. We bill the manufacturer separately. |
Many firms take a cut from your recovery — reducing what the client gets back |
|
Vehicle Manufacturer Communications |
We handle all communication with the manufacturer and coordinating the defective vehicle turn in. |
Many firms focus on the manufacturer only and leave the rest to you. |
|
Who Handles Your Case |
Our managing attorney, George Mkrtchyan, Esq. (CA Bar #339099), is personally involved in every file. |
Often rotating unqualified paralegals; the named attorney appears only on the letterhead. |
On a 48-month lease where you’ve made 30 payments of $600 ($18,000 paid) and have 18 payments remaining ($10,800), a successful lemon law termination recovers $18,000 in past payments and forgives $10,800 in future payments — a combined financial benefit of up to $28,800 before down payments, and incidentals. With Court House Lawyers, you keep all of it.
The legal landscape for lemon law claims in California changed significantly in 2024 and 2025. Three developments are relevant to Los Angeles consumers with a defective vehicle claim:
AB 1755 (signed September 2024, effective April 2025) added a pre-litigation notice requirement for certain manufacturers: generally, before filing a lawsuit, a consumer must send the manufacturer a formal written demand and give them a limited window to repurchase or replace the vehicle. A properly prepared demand is now more important than ever — because a deficient demand can give the manufacturer grounds to reject the process and delay resolution.
However, Niedermeier v. FCA US LLC (2024) delivered a significant consumer win: generally, the court held that trade-in credits shouldn’t be deducted from the lemon law restitution owed. If you traded in a vehicle when you bought or leased your lemon, that trade-in value should be included in your buyback calculation. Many consumers — and some attorneys — don’t know this.
We practice under the current rules every day. Last updated: June 2026.
George Mkrtchyan
Managing Attorney
George Mkrtchyan is the Managing Attorney of Court House Lawyers, a Glendale-based lemon law and personal injury firm. He has spent over a decade resolving defective vehicle claims under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act — including leased vehicle cases involving every major manufacturer and finance company. He has successfully coordinated lease termination resolutions involving Mercedes-Benz Financial, Stellantis, Honda Financial, Ford Motor Credit, GM Financial, Hyundai Capital America, Toyota Financial Services, Nissan Financial Services and more.
One of the most common situations George handles is the lessee who comes to him believing their lease is nearly over and their rights have expired. In one case, he was able to declare the vehicle lemon and turn it in with a single day to spare before the lease expiry date — and the client recovered four years of lease payments. The lease end date is not the deadline for your rights.
“When manufacturers see a case without an attorney, victims often see an immediate denial. We see an opportunity to protect a consumer and their rights under the law.”
— George Mkrtchyan, Managing Attorney
Every case is different. These are examples of what resolution has looked like for our clients.
Vehicle: Jeep Wrangler (4-year lease)
Issue: Client had 4 months left on a 4-year lease and believed the window had closed
What we did: Filed the lemon law claim immediately and we were successful with 1 day to spare before the lease expired
Outcome: Client recovered every dollar paid into the lease over 4 years, minus a very low mileage offset
Timeline: Resolved before the lease end date.
Vehicle: Mercedes-Benz hybrid
Issue: Recurring engine and battery defects. Client had already been denied once without an attorney, 3 repair attempts, 30+ days out of service
What we did: Built the case from the existing repair record and submitted a demand directly to MBUSA
Outcome: Full buyback. Manufacturer also waived the mileage offset, putting an additional $5,250 in the client’s pocket
Timeline: Resolved within 60 days.
This case was covered by Today in Law.
Read the coverage →
Vehicle: Tesla
Issue: Manufacturer denied repurchase, claiming repairs had resolved the defect
What we did: Used the manufacturer’s own repair orders as the basis for a new demand
Outcome: Full manufacturer buyback approved
Timeline: Resolved within 30 days of demand.
Vehicle: Land Rover
Issue: Client’s previous attorney had been pursuing the case for over 12 months with no resolution
What we did: Reviewed the repair records, filed a new demand, applied current pre-litigation notice procedures
Outcome: Full lemon law buyback
Timeline: 3 months from the day Court House Lawyers took over the file.
Vehicle: Audi/Volkswagen
Issue: Manufacturer had offered the client a $3,000 cash-and-keep settlement directly
What we did: Stepped in, reviewed the file, and resubmitted the demand with full documentation
Outcome: Cash-and-keep settlement increased to $15,000
Timeline: Resolved without litigation.
Past results are specific to the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. Every lemon law matter is evaluated on its own merits.
Send us your repair orders, your lease agreement, and your warranty booklet. We evaluate your case at no cost, identify your strongest remedy option, tell you clearly our assessment, expected timeline — and what your recovery looks like.
We prepare and send the formal written demand to the manufacturer under AB1755. Identifying the vehicle's defects and requesting a vehicle repurchase.
The manufacturer has a limited window to repurchase, replace, or respond in writing. A lease resolution involves discussions and negotiations with the manufacturer. We do not let them drag their feet, or make an offer that does not fully account for what the client is entitled to.
Once the manufacturer accepts the claim, we coordinate the vehicle return, the finance company being paid, and the calculation of your recovery — past payments, forgiven future payments, incidentals, and any civil penalties. We verify every figure.
If the manufacturer does not respond timely, or refuses a fair offer, we file. Every case is prepared from day one as if it's going to trial. That preparation is why most cases settle, and why settlements are quicker and higher.
Under California Lemon Law, the manufacturer pays your legal fees if you win. If we don’t recover anything, you pay nothing.
How do you know if your leased car qualifies
as a lemon under California law?
Yes — fully. The Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act covers leased vehicles with the same protections as purchased vehicles. If your leased vehicle has a defect that substantially impairs its safety, value, or use and the manufacturer can’t fix it within a reasonable number of attempts, you’re entitled to lease termination with full recovery, a replacement vehicle with a new lease, a cash settlement, or a forced buyout at residual value.
No — and this is the most important misconception we encounter. Your right to file a lemon law claim does not expire because its near lease end. As long as the defect first appeared while the vehicle was under the manufacturer’s warranty, your claim is valid. We have returned vehicles under the lemon law with days remaining before lease expiry and recovered full multi-year payments. If you have a defect that was never fixed, call us before you turn the car in.
In a lemon law buyback, remaining payments are paid off by the manufacturer. You do not pay them. The manufacturer restores you to the position you were in before you leased the defective vehicle — which means eliminating the remaining debt, not just compensating for what you’ve paid so far.
No. An early termination fee is a contractual penalty for voluntarily ending a lease early. A lemon law termination is not voluntary — it is a legal remedy. California law does not allow manufacturers to charge early termination fees as part of a lemon law resolution.
These can be waived in a lemon law lease buyback. You shouldn’t be penalized for the miles driven on a vehicle that was defective throughout the lease period.
All monthly lease payments made to date, your down payment, taxes paid, towing, rental car, and other incidental expenses caused by the defect. Remaining lease payments, and early lease termination penalties are also waived. In cases where the manufacturer willfully violated the law, a civil penalty of up to two times actual damages may also be available.
The manufacturer owes you the lemon law recovery under the Song-Beverly Act. The leasing company holds title to the vehicle and must release you as part of the buyback — but they are not the one paying. Getting the two entities to coordinate is one of the primary reasons experienced legal representation matters in lease cases. We handle both.
Generally, Yes. If you leased and subsequently purchased a vehicle and the defect persisted through both periods, all payments from both the lease and the purchase can count toward your lemon law recovery under the “actual price paid or payable” standard. This is a significantly larger recovery than most clients expect.
Yes, if the vehicle was sold with a manufacturer’s certified pre-owned warranty that was still in effect when the defect first appeared. Under Rodriguez v. FCA (2024), vehicles purchased through non-authorized third parties receive different treatment — but standard CPO leases through authorized dealers are covered.
Nothing upfront, and we never take a cut of your recovery. Under California’s Song-Beverly Act, the manufacturer pays our attorney’s fees in successful cases — we bill them separately, never from your recovery. No retainer, no hourly billing. If we don’t recover for you, you pay nothing.
10
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND SUCCESS
Trusted Glendale leased car lemon law attorney. When the defect started, your rights started — regardless of where you are in your lease.
If your vehicle has a defect the manufacturer can’t fix, you have rights under California lemon law. The manufacturer pays our fees. You keep your buyback check.
Whether you’re in Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Los Angeles, La Crescenta, Temple City, Eagle Rock, or anywhere else in California — cars, trucks, SUVs, leased vehicles, and motorcycles included — Court House Lawyers is ready to help you take action.
