Appellate Decision in Fletcher Jones Motorcars Published
California Court of Appeal Publishes Victory Over Fletcher Jones Motorcars
We have been following the Lewis v. Fletcher Jones Motorcars, Inc., lawsuit, in which the Vachon Law Firm is representing the plaintiff (an Orange County, California resident) and the defendant is Fletcher Jones Motorcars (which operates a popular Newport Beach, California Mercedes-Benz dealership).
The facts at issue are that Fletcher Jones Motorcars, after waiting four months, brought a motion asking the court to force the plaintiff to arbitrate her claims against the dealership. Arbitration is a non-court proceeding in which a private individual (rather than a judge) gets to decide who wins and who loses. Arbitration is typically less advantageous to consumers and favors businesses (like Fletcher Jones Motorcars) because less discovery is permitted and arbitrators are not required to follow the law. On July 22, 20111, the trial court denied the motion to compel arbitration. Thereafter, Fletcher Jones appealed.
The Court of Appeal Affirmed the Trial Court Ruling in a Published Decision
On March 26, 2012, the Fourth District, Division Three Court of Appeal (the Court of Appeal for Orange County, California) upheld the trial court’s order denying Fletcher Jones Motorcars’s motion to compel arbitration. Then, on April 25, 2012, it published the decision. By publishing the opinion, it is now part of the precedential law of California that consumers everywhere can cite to in support of their efforts to avoid arbitration.
