California ‘Lemon Law’ Filings Fall Sharply After Record Year
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
Experts say the nearly 32% drop is partially attributable to changes in filing activity, dispute resolution prior to litigation
California lemon law filings fell sharply in the first half of 2026 after reaching a record high last year, as new procedures aimed at resolving vehicle warranty disputes earlier began taking effect.
But attorneys on both sides say the reforms tell only part of the story, pointing to more disputes resolving before litigation and significant changes in filing activity among some of the state’s highest-volume plaintiffs’ firms.
A June 30 review by Bowman & Brooke LLP of California warranty filing data found filings fell 31.3% during the first half of 2026 compared with the same quarterly period last year.
The defense firm counted 13,295 filings through June, putting the state on pace for more than 26,500 this year. That would be down from a record 32,480 in 2025 and 30,142 in 2024, after filings more than tripled from 9,219 in 2020.
A separate Lex Machina report released Sept. 15 found a similar trend in vehicle-related product liability litigation, with filings retreating from a 2025 peak. The report, which primarily analyzes federal litigation, counted about 1,100 vehicle-related cases outside multidistrict litigation during the first half of 2026, putting filings closer to 2024 levels.
In Los Angeles County Superior Court, Lex Machina counted about 5,400 product liability cases through June, also closer to the 2024 pace after filings reached 11,822 last year. The category extends beyond lemon law, but Lex Machina attributed much of the recent growth to vehicle warranty litigation under California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act.
Joseph A. Kaufman, a lemon law plaintiffs’ attorney in Pasadena, said he thinks some firms made a push to sign up clients and file cases before new filing deadlines took effect, though he said his own filing volume remained largely unchanged.
“They filed a lot of cases to try to beat the new rules going into effect, because there was so much uncertainty as to how the new rules would play out,” Kaufman said.
The changes came through Assembly Bill 1755, which took effect in early 2025 and altered procedures governing Song-Beverly cases.
Among other provisions, the law shortened the window for filing certain claims, generally requiring them within one year after the applicable warranty expires and no later than six years after the vehicle was originally delivered.
It also requires consumers seeking civil penalties to give manufacturers notice before litigation and establishes mediation and limited early discovery procedures intended to encourage quicker resolution.
But the sharp growth in filings began well before those changes, some attorneys said.
Richard L. Stuhlbarg, a Bowman & Brooke partner who defends manufacturers, noted that statewide filings had already climbed from 9,219 in 2020 to nearly 15,000 in 2022 and more than 22,000 in 2023, before AB 1755 was enacted.
The statewide decline also masks a dramatic change at one of California’s largest lemon law plaintiffs’ firms.
Strategic Legal Practices filed 6,433 warranty cases in 2025 but just 108 during the first half of this year, according to Bowman & Brooke’s data.
“I think that is a big factor driving the decline,” Stuhlbarg said. If the firm were filing at last year’s pace, he said, statewide filings would be on track for about 32,000 this year, making it difficult to attribute the overall decrease to AB 1755.
Narain Maclear LLP Co-Founding Partner Sabrina C. Narain, who represents manufacturers, said the decline similarly appears concentrated among some of the highest-volume firms rather than across the plaintiffs’ bar.
“If you really look at the numbers, it’s the shift in the players ... not necessarily a decline through all of the plaintiffs’ firms,” Narain said. “I think a good majority of the firms are still staying steady at the same numbers, and we haven’t seen a true impact of the statute yet.”
Bowman & Brooke’s quarterly report shows a mixed picture among the most active firms.
MFS Legal had 1,582 filings through the first half of 2026, nearly matching its 1,657 for all of 2025, while Sina Rez Law had 650 compared with 702 last year. Quill & Arrow LLP, by contrast, had 2,029 filings through June after filing 6,052 in 2025.
But fewer lawsuits do not necessarily mean fewer lemon law disputes. Attorneys on both sides said more claims are being resolved before they reach court.
Kaufman said manufacturers are now more likely to accept pre-litigation requests to repurchase vehicles. He attributed the change, in part, to new procedures that allow attorney fee and cost disputes to be resolved through neutral binding arbitration.
“Our pre-litigation repurchase requests are much more likely to be accepted,” Kaufman said.
For consumers, Kaufman said, that can mean getting their vehicles bought back sooner. For attorneys, earlier resolutions mean less revenue per case because less litigation work is required.
Stuhlbarg likewise said he is seeing more cases resolve without litigation, attributing the change, in part, to AB 1755’s pre-suit notice requirement.
“The pre-suit notice requirement has led to more settlements,” he said. “This has given manufacturers the opportunity to respond to claims before litigation.”
Narain also said cases have become somewhat easier to settle, particularly when dealing with smaller-volume plaintiffs’ firms. The overall nature of resolutions has remained similar, she said, but “plaintiff firms are coming to the table faster.”
The attorneys differ more over what drove California’s rapid growth in lemon law litigation before the reforms.
Kaufman pointed to increasingly complex vehicle technology, shortages of trained technicians and parts and greater consumer awareness of lemon law rights.
From the defense side, Narain attributed much of the growth to higher filing volumes by plaintiffs’ firms and the financial incentives created by statutory attorney fees.
The new law is also producing disputes over its sanctions, disclosure and discovery provisions. Kaufman said the sanctions provisions are affecting how lawyers approach early disclosures and depositions, while Stuhlbarg said manufacturers he represents have established procedures to comply with the requirements.
Narain questioned whether the law’s compressed discovery deadlines will ultimately streamline cases if those that do not settle simply return to ordinary discovery.
The long-term trajectory of lemon law filings remains uncertain.
Kaufman said he expects filings to gradually decline as manufacturers adapt to the new procedures and more claims are resolved before litigation.
Narain said it is “too early to tell” whether fewer lawsuits reflect a lasting reduction in disputes or merely more claims being resolved before reaching court.
Stuhlbarg said further reforms would be needed to reduce filing volume over the longer term.
