Missouri Lemon Law restricts consumers to only suing dealer

In Missouri, the House recently approved a lemon law bill that limits consumer’s right to only sue the car dealer and no one else. That’s right, no one else, including the car manufacturer or others who were involved in selling the consumer the lemon vehicle.

The bill was sponsored by Republican Jay Wasson and harshly opposed by Kansas City representative John Burnett, who is a Democrat. The lemon law bill is called HB1970 and has been sent to the Senate. There is currently no calendar date for it and the proposed effective date for it is 08/28/2008.

I personally would oppose this bill because it is written too narrow. There are many situations where it is important for the consumer to have the right to sue other parties besides the car dealers in lemon law related claims, especially in resale situations.

I urge folks who reside in Missouri to please write to your state representative and voice your opposition to this bill. For more information about the bill, go here and here.