Disability access lawsuits: Much press has been given to lawsuits against building owners and tenants whose facilities do not comply with disabled persons’ accessibility requirements. Some lawyers had filed numerous lawsuits against business
occupants, sometimes filing multiple suits against the same business by the same plaintiff for the same violation.
Effective even before the end of 2012 as an urgency measure, this new law should alleviate some of the shakedown of small business and other landlords and tenants.
Demand letters to defendants may no longer demand, or even request or offer to accept, money to satisfy the plaintiff’s complaints. They may, though, offer prelitigation settlement negotiations. In the case of multiple claims for the same accessibility
violation on different occasions, courts will now assess the reasonableness of the plaintiff’s conduct in light of his/her obligation to mitigate damages.
Fines to property owners and small businesses can also be greatly reduced under certain conditions.
Buy-here-pay-here automobile sales: AB 1447 was enacted to correct some abusive practices of buy-here-pay-here used car dealers, who generally sell older, high-mileage vehicles to buyers who cannot qualify for conventional automobile loans.
Because these dealers carry their own contracts--at least for 45 days--their financial boundaries are less restrictive. Thus they require larger down payments from their buyers than traditional lenders would, and they can charge exorbitant interest rates
compared to what traditional lenders would. The buyers, who have little or no power in negotiating the payment contracts, often encounter, within days or weeks, mechanical problems with the vehicles they purchase, and because repairs can amount to as much
or more than the cost of the car, often default in their payments. Dealers repossess an estimated 25 percent or more of the cars sold and can repossess and resell the same car multiple times.
Under the new law, dealers will have to issue buyers a 30-day or 1,000-mile warranty covering the engine, transmission, suspension systems, and many other parts, including even such items as seatbelts and heaters. The dealer must make necessary repairs
and pay the entire cost of labor and parts or, alternatively, cancel the contract and make a full refund, except for a reasonable amount for any damage caused by something other than the nonconformity.
The purchase agreement is voidable by the buyer if it provides for the buyer’s waiver of these provisions or for any limitation or disclaimer of them. The warranty is effective whether or not the dealer issues it.
The seller also may not require the buyer to make payments, other than the down payment, in person, nor may s/he use electronic tracking or starter interrupt technology to later track the vehicle or disable it.
Automated traffic enforcement systems: New laws for red light violation cameras may reduce some of the criticism drivers have of them, whether or not they’ve been caught by them. Or not.
One new provision requires the governmental agency that will operate an automated system to establish that the system is needed for safety reasons at a specific location before installing it. The governmental agency is prohibited from considering revenue
generation, beyond recovering actual operating costs, when considering installation or operation of a system. Nor may that agency contract to pay a manufacturer or supplier of automatic traffic enforcement equipment on the basis of number of citations generated
or percentage of revenue generated.
If you, as a driver, get a ticket, you must be told how you may view and discuss the evidence against you with the issuing agency.
The new law provides that printouts of computer-generated information, videos or photos do not constitute hearsay evidence. Previously, alleging that they did has been effective in getting at least some red light tickets dismissed.
By January 1, 2014, any red light cameras installed by January 1, 2013 will have to be identified by clearly visible signs posted within 200 feet of intersections where they’re in operation.
Driving and Texting: It’s now legal to dictate, send, or listen to text-based communications while driving, as long as you use an electronic wireless communication device that employs voice-activated hands-free technology to do it. You
may now also activate or deactivate a feature or function on the device while driving.
One that got away: tax on bundles: A Senate bill that provided for sales and use taxes to be charged on the bundled (and usually heavily discounted), rather than the unbundled, price of a wireless telecommunication device
is one you’d probably have liked to see passed, but that didn’t.
The California Board of Equalization requires that wireless telecommunication devices, such as cell phones, pagers, and tablets, be subject to sales or use tax on their unbundled price, whereas, sold bundled with their accompanying contracts, the same devices
can be discounted up to 100 percent of their retail price. The bill’s author, former State Senator Bob Dutton, sought more tax consistency, since, as he pointed out, consumers pay sales tax on discounted--not full--prices when they buy at, say, department
store sales. He also felt consumers were confused when they had to pay more than they expected for cell phones and those other items because of the method of calculating the tax.
The Board of Equalization, though, estimated revenue losses of $182 million per year, with possible loss increases in succeeding years.