Lemon Briefs. IALLA Conference Vol. 5, Issue 3 July, Inside:

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1 Lemon Briefs The International Association of Lemon Law Administrators Vol. 5, Issue 3 July, 2002 Inside: 2 President s Message 3 Conference Agenda 4 Guest Speaker Profiles 5 Legal Briefs 6 Featured State - Florida IALLA Conference 2002 Lemon Laws - Working Together for Better Consumer Protection While a year has nearly passed since the cancellation of IALLA s 2001 conference, we re ready to invite you once again! Come join IALLA Members and Subscribers as originally planned in Orlando, Florida s attraction central, for this year s annual conference September at the Hyatt Orlando! Our theme remains Lemon Laws Working Together for Better Consumer Protection. We hope to do just that, by providing a non-adversarial opportunity for the varied interest groups and people who make up the members and subscribers to IALLA to work on some of the major issues that concern us all, such as lemon law coverage, educating consumers and resale disclosure. The deadline for registration is August 9, See pages 3 and 4 for conference details. Conference invitations and registration forms were mailed recently to members and subscribers. However, the conference registration forms are available on our web site, along with a link to obtain special airline prices. Many local area merchants and attractions have donated tickets and merchandise for prize giveaways during the conference, and we have an exciting off-site event planned for Thursday evening. We look forward to seeing you there! Visit IALLA at: Lemon Briefs is a publication of The International Association of Lemon Law Administrators. IALLA promotes effective Lemon Laws worldwide, and advances communication between regulators, consumers, and industry. Newsletter Committee: Paul Corning paulc@atg.wa.gov Carol Roberts CORoberts@prexar.com Cathy Skaar cathy.skaar@dot.state.wi.us

2 From the driver s seat: A word from IALLA President, L. David Brunke As this issue of the newsletter is dedicated primarily to publicizing the upcoming conference, I want to highly encourage everyone to attend and at the same time thank those members who have and will be devoting many countless hours to making the event possible. Besides a packed-solid agenda, the conference will provide an excellent opportunity to network informally with other members, subscribers and invited guests. The conference work groups will be devoted to two of the goals of the association, namely improving lemon law coverage and resale disclosure. The lack of uniformity in state lemon laws, including resale disclosure requirements, continues to be a concern for the various stakeholders. Although the systemic or organic state lemon laws appear on the surface to be very similar, there are nonetheless important differences, which often lead to consumer inequities. However, the most apparent differences pertain to the way the state lemon laws are administrated or governed. Furthermore, lemon law data is almost impossible to obtain from states not having state-run or sponsored programs, with the exception of a few of the states that certify manufacturer dispute resolution mechanisms. One of the more important missions of IALLA is serving as a clearinghouse for information to link the regulators, manufacturers and consumer groups. In this regard, IALLA continues to strive to keep the lines of communications open between the stakeholders, including the trade, consumer and regulator associations. Accordingly, I encourage the use of IALLA as a clearinghouse for information to the fullest extent possible. Looking forward to seeing you in Orlando! 2 Lemon Briefs

3 AGENDA WEDNESDAY, Sept Pre-Conference 5:00-7:00 p.m. Registration 6:00-8:00 p.m. Welcome Reception THURSDAY, September 26 8:00 a.m. Breakfast & Registration 8:45 a.m. Opening Introductions David Brunke, President, IALLA 9:00 a.m. Welcome to Florida TBA 9:15 a.m. Pros & Cons of Uniform Laws Dennis Jay, Executive Director, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud 10:00 a.m. Break 10:15 a.m. Regulator Update 11:30 a.m. Industry Update 12:15 p.m. Lunch (on your own) 1:30 p.m. Consumer Update 2:15 p.m. Educating Consumers About Their Lemon Law Rights Alice Scott, Deputy Director, Communications Outreach, CA Dept. of Consumer Affairs 3:00 p.m. Break 3:15 p.m. Work Groups: Group 1: Improving Lemon Law Coverage Group 2: Improving Resale Disclosure 4:30 p.m. Adjourn 5:30 p.m. Dinner & Show at Capone s FRIDAY, September 27 8:00 a.m. Breakfast 8:30 a.m. Special Presentation to Walter T. Dartland David Brunke, President 9:00 a.m. Hon. Robert A. Butterworth Attorney General of Florida 9:30 a.m. Hon. Charles H. Bronson Fla. Commissioner of Agriculture 10:00 a.m. Break 10:15 a.m. Group Work Session 12:00 Noon Lunch (on your own) 1:15 p.m. General Session Group Reports 2:00 p.m. General Discussion and Suggestions for Action 3:00 p.m. Closing Remarks & Adjourn David Brunke, President SATURDAY, September 28, Post-conference (CLOSED SESSION Full & Associate Members Only) 8:00 a.m. Breakfast 8:30 a.m.-noon IALLA Annual Business Meeting & Election About the Work Groups: The groups will be made up of representatives from government, industry and consumer groups. A member of IALLA s Policy Committee will act as facilitator for each group. The group goal is to come to consensus and propose to the general assembly concepts, language and/or procedures for improving Lemon Law protection for consumers in the two major areas of coverage and resale disclosure. The topics to be discussed in the groups were developed by IALLA s policy committee. Each group will nominate a spokesperson to present the group s work to the general assembly. The assembly will discuss the areas of interest and may recommend that IALLA take further action in the ensuing year. Conference attendees will take away with them constructive ideas for improving their state laws and corporate procedures by working together for better consumer protection. Please complete the Group Preference form and return it with your registration. 3 Lemon Briefs

4 Orlando: Conference 2002 Guest Speaker Profiles Attorney General Bob Butterworth Robert A. Bob Butterworth, Florida s 33rd attorney general, was born August 20, 1942, in Passaic, New Jersey. Butterworth was educated at the University of Florida, where he received a B.S.B.A. degree, and the University of Miami Law School, where he received a J.D. degree. Butterworth also did advanced studies in international law at the University of Miami Graduate School of Law. He holds an honorary doctor of laws degree from Stetson University. Butterworth s public service career began in 1970 when he became an assistant state attorney in Dade County. During , Butterworth served as police legal advisor for the Broward County Sheriff s Office, where he was one of the nation s first police legal advisors to work directly with officers on the street. Butterworth returned to the Broward County State Attorney s Office and during served as chief of the Special Investigation Division and as an assistant state attorney. Butterworth from 1974 to 1978 was first a county judge, then a circuit judge hearing both civil and criminal cases. He also was an adjunct professor at the Nova University Graduate School of Criminal Justice and served on the university s national faculty. Governor Reubin Askew appointed Butterworth as Broward County Sheriff in 1978, a post to which he was elected in In 1982, Governor Bob Graham and the Cabinet appointed Butterworth as executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, where he supervised the Florida Highway Patrol and oversaw agency reforms. When the mayor of Sunrise, Florida, was indicted in 1984, Governor Graham again turned to Butterworth and appointed him interim mayor. Butterworth later was in the private practice of law until his election as attorney general in He was reelected in 1990, 1994 and Commissioner Charles H. Bronson Charles Bronson is a fifthgeneration Floridian whose family has been in agriculture since the 1600s. Born in Kissimmee in 1949, he attended the public school system in Osceola County. In 1972, he graduated from the University of Georgia. A rancher, Bronson resides in Melbourne in Brevard County with his wife Regina and daughters Michelle and Melanie. He was elected to the Florida Senate in 1994 and reelected in While there, he served as chairman of both the Agriculture and Consumer Services Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee. He has served as a reserve deputy in the Brevard County Sheriff s Department since 1982, and served in a similar capacity in Dade County in 1978 and He was appointed Florida Agriculture Commissioner by Governor Jeb Bush on May 14, In that capacity, he heads the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the largest state department of agriculture in the country with more than 3,600 employees. The department also houses the state s Consumer Services Division, which has broad regulatory oversight over a number of industries, including auto repair shops, commercial telemarketers, health studios, dance studios, business opportunities and charitable solicitation companies. Dennis Jay Dennis Jay is executive director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud consisting of consumer groups, government agencies and insurers dedicated to combating all forms of insurance fraud through public information and advocacy. Jay is a frequent speaker on insurance fraud issues. He has provided testimony to legislatures on the state and federal level about the severity of fraud and proposed solutions to counter the growth of this white-collar crime. Most recently, he testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on faked hate crimes, and served as an expert witness before the U.S. House Commerce Committee on fraud in federal health care programs. He also has lectured at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He is a frequent source for the news media on fraud issues, having been quoted in The New York Times and U.S. News & World Report. Continued: Page 5 4 Lemon Briefs

5 con t. -- Conference Guest Speakers - He also has appeared on several television news programs, including NBC Dateline, CNBC and Fox News Channel. Jay formerly served as vice president of communications for the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, where he was instrumental in developing industry/consumer coalitions. During his 15 years with the insurance association, he worked in the areas of consumer affairs, public relations and publishing. Alice Scott Alice Scott is the Deputy Director of the Consumer Relations and Outreach Division for the California Department of Consumer Affairs. The Division is responsible for all of the programs in the Department that have direct contact with the public, including the Arbitration Certification Program that oversees California s Lemon Law; the Consumer Information Call Center, and the Complaint Mediation Program. Ms. Scott manages the Department of Consumer Affairs outreach efforts throughout the state. Ms. Scott has had a long standing commitment to community relations and outreach, most recently demonstrated through the public relations firm she founded. Ms. Scott helped her clients receive positive visibility in the public and the media. She also specialized in community relations and media training. Prior to that, Alice Scott was a reporter and producer for nearly two decades for KCRA-TV in Sacramento. Her prime time magazine public affairs programs To Be Somebody and Kids You Can Be Proud Of, garnered numerous honors and earned her the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award. She also produced several award winning documentaries that took her around the globe including Africa, Mexico and Haiti. Alice Scott s local and international reporting received four Emmy nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Lemon Legal Brief: IN FLORIDA by Jan Smith, AAG Florida Attorney General s Office Where do Florida Lemons go? In calendar year 2000, manufacturers repurchased 895 motor vehicles as a result of settlements or arbitration decisions in the state-run Lemon Law Arbitration Program. When the vehicles are repurchased, the manufacturers are required, among other things, to have the titles branded Manufacturer Buyback before transferring the vehicles to auctions or dealerships for resale. When a vehicle is title-branded, then transferred out of state, the Florida DMV records the state to which the title is transferred. A view of the records for that agency for the 895 vehicles repurchased in 2000 revealed 122 vehicles identified as having their titles transferred to other states. The two states that received the highest numbers of these vehicles were Georgia with 54 and Tennessee with 29. Michigan and New York each got nine Florida Lemons ; Indiana received six; Arkansas and West Virginia each received three; Kansas, Texas and Minnesota each got two, and California, Colorado and Vermont received one Florida Lemon each. The Manufacturer who transferred most of these vehicles to other states? DaimlerChrysler, with a total of Lemon Briefs

6 State profile: Florida By Toya Peters Division of Consumer Services, Department of Agriculture Recognizing that a new vehicle purchase does not always translate into a problem-free purchase, the Florida Legislature in 1988 revised a law that makes car manufacturers responsible under certain circumstances for replacing defective vehicles or refunding the consumers money. Commonly known as Florida s automobile Lemon Law, the Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act established arbitration boards throughout the state to hear and settle complaints between car manufacturers and owners. Florida State Fairgrounds The Division of Consumer Services certification program is voluntary. A manufacturer can apply for certification through the state and then would be allowed to have their dispute resolution handled through their certified program. The Division of Consumer Services performs audits annually, gathering data, which would include an evaluation of hearings and reviews of arbitrations. Based upon the information in these audits, the Division of Consumer Services can recommend re-certification of the manufacturer s certified program to handle dispute resolutions. If a manufacturer has been certified, then the consumer is required to file a request for arbitration with the certified program first. If they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the certified program, they can then file for arbitration through the state program. The first step would be to submit a request for arbitration to the Division of Consumer Services. The Division is responsible for reviewing requests for arbitration under the Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act (F.S. 681). The Lemon Law section in the Division of Consumer Services screens all requests for arbitration to determine eligibility under the statute. If the consumer s request conforms to criteria for eligibility it is forwarded to the Dept. of Legal Affairs, Attorney General s office, to handle the actual arbitration. If the request is rejected, the consumer is notified and can pursue a remedy through a civil action. The Division of Consumer Services also handles incoming calls on the State s Lemon Law Hotline. In the Fiscal Year , the Lemon Law section handled 24,300 consumer calls. This service is invaluable to consumers as they try to determine if they are eligible to file for arbitration. The analysts also assist consumers with a wide variety of questions regarding Florida s Lemon Law. 6 Lemon Briefs