March 1, 2011 | by: Todd Dills Overdrive Magazine
Only one state is known for strong protection against a chronically malfunctioning truck.
Retired owner-operator Mike Noll, of Sun Prairie, Wis., ended his trucking career on a sour note. His last truck, a 2000 model outfitted with a 600-hp, 2,000-plus lb.-ft. torque Cummins, had a 60-inch double-bunk sleeper, refrigerator and other creature comforts.
But soon after purchasing the truck new, he began to have problems with the suspension and other issues "they would work on, but they never really could get it all fixed." The truck was in the shop about 100 days the first year.
Noll, living and having bought the truck in Wisconsin, was in a better position than most other operators who are saddled with a lemon. His wife, who worked with the Wisconsin bar association, looked up state law on warranties and lemon vehicles. They discovered that, though every state has a "lemon law" protecting new car buyers from defective vehicles, most laws have little to no application to commercial trucks.
Wisconsin's law, however, is broad enough to apply also to Class 8 trucks, and appears to be the only such law that has resulted in a sizable number of successful lawsuits for new truck buyers. After a recent such case, questions have risen as to whether such laws ought to be more widespread.
"There's not much to talk about in lemon law when it comes to trucks," says Milwaukee area attorney Vince Megna, of Aiken & Scoptur, "except that there aren't any, and the need for them. A lot of truck drivers call me, but for the ones that are out of state, there's nothing that can be done."
Megna handled the case of owner-operator Randy Seeman, who hauled sand and other commodities in dump trailers in the Midwest from his and his son's Jewel Trucking in Janesville, Wis., until recently. The two work now as company drivers. In January, Seeman was awarded $290,000 when a jury found his 2007 model tractor to be a lemon.
