Vince Megna is the self-proclaimed “King of the Lemon Law” and proved it last week when he won a judgment over Mercedes for $618,000. Megna’s client, Marco Marquez, purchased a Mercedes-Benz 2005 E-Class sedan for just over $56k on the assumption that the car would run properly. It didn’t and had to be repaired almost immediately.
According to the lemon law, buyers have the right to have their money refunded in the instance that the car mechanically fails repeatedly. Because the car was a dysfunctional piece of crap, Megna’s client asked that his money be refunded. He and Mercedes were in negotiations, but the company missed the deadline to pay up. As a result, Marco Marquez filed suit.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the refund required should tack on interest when the debt isn’t paid. Six years after the case began bouncing through Wisconsin courtrooms like a super ball, penalties had accrued to a whopping $618,000.
Mercedes still had not paid the tab up until two weeks ago, when Megna filed paperwork to seize property from the six dealerships Mercedes owns in Wisconsin. He added insult to injury by posting PSA type commercials pertaining to the Lemon Law and his case against Mercedes after he’d won the lawsuit.
It’s worth noting that Mercedes requested that Marco Marquez fire his lawyer in order to settle the matter. Luckily Marquez wasn’t dumb enough to do that, nor would he drop his suit. The Marquez case is a new record holder for sizable settlements in Lemon Law cases.
