Glendale Law Firm Court House Lawyers Explains Why Lemon Law Buyback Checks Should Go Directly to Consumers

A California lemon law firm hands clients their buyback check at surrender and takes no cut. Here’s why the practice is rare and why it matters.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — When a California lemon law case resolves in a buyback, there is a moment at the end that most consumers never think about. The vehicle turn in appointment is set. A surrender agent processes the paperwork. The vehicle is turned in. A check is issued.

The question is who receives it.

At Court House Lawyers, a Glendale firm handling California lemon law and personal injury matters, the check goes directly to the client at the vehicle surrender.

In a public review, Jenna Fields wrote that Court House Lawyers secured “a great outcome including a check upon surrender of the car and waiving of fees for used miles.” She continued: “Even the agent who handled the surrender commented about how rare it was that a check is given directly to the client when an attorney is used in lemon situations. She went as far as to ask for his contact information to use for her own daughter who has a lemon.”

Surrender agents are third-party contractors who process vehicle repurchases on behalf of manufacturers. They appear at the dealership with the paperwork and the check, complete the transfer, and submit the file.

When a law firm is involved the lemon law buyback check is usually routed through a law firm’s account rather than handed to the client. The firm takes on real administrative work; but why? The check must be deposited into a client trust account, reconciled, and disbursed, with the recordkeeping obligations that attach to holding client funds.

“There’s a reason to ask why a firm would want that extra step,” said George Mkrtchyan, Esq., managing attorney at Court House Lawyers. “If the client can be handed the check and go on with their life, the case is finished. Routing it through the office means holding client money, and holding client money creates obligations that a firm doesn’t take on for no reason.”

Under California Civil Code § 1794(d), a consumer who prevails on a lemon law claim recovers reasonable attorney’s fees from the manufacturer, calculated on actual time expended. The buyback — the down payment, the payments made, and incidental costs, less the mileage offset — belongs to the consumer.

The two can get entangled when a manufacturer pays the firm less in fees than the case required. If the client’s money is in the firm’s account when that happens, the shortfall has somewhere to go.

For a Lemon Law Buyback Court House Lawyers’ fee agreement states that if the manufacturer does not pay the firm’s fees in full, the client is not responsible for the difference. This is what sets Court House Lawyers apart.

“The statute says the manufacturer pays reasonable attorney’s fees,” Mkrtchyan said. “It does not say the manufacturer pays part and the client covers the rest. Attorney fees after a buyback is a matter between the manufacturer and our firm. It has nothing to do with what the client is owed, and the easiest way to keep it that way is to never be holding the client’s buyback money in the first place.”

When a manufacturer’s fee offer falls short of what a case required, the firm’s stated position is that it pursues the difference from the manufacturer rather than the client, including through binding arbitration when necessary.

The review references a second outcome: the waiver of “fees for used miles.”

Under Civil Code § 1793.2, a manufacturer completing a California lemon law buyback may deduct a mileage offset, calculated from the odometer reading at the first documented repair visit for the defect. On a vehicle with meaningful mileage, the deduction can run thousands of dollars.

Manufacturers are not required to waive it, and generally do not. Court House Lawyers has secured waivers in several matters, including a Mercedes-Benz buyback reported by Today in Law in which the waiver returned an additional $5,250 to the client.

Mkrtchyan, who has worked with Mercedes-Benz USA for more than a decade, attributes the waivers partly to customer retention — a manufacturer that treats a client fairly on the way out is more likely to see that client buy another Mercedes. But he also points to how the firm handles the money. “They know we’re not taking that money for ourselves,” Mkrtchyan said. “If there’s no offset, the client keeps all of it. There’s less reason for them to hold the line on a deduction when they know it isn’t going anywhere but back to the client.”

The calculation is straightforward, and a California lemon law buyback calculator can run it in seconds: purchase price multiplied by miles at first repair, divided by 120,000. On a $50,000 vehicle, a first repair visit at 8,000 miles produces a $3,333 deduction. The same vehicle at 20,000 miles produces $8,333 — the same car, the same defect, and a $5,000 difference determined entirely by when the problem was first reported at an authorized service center.

“The offset is calculated from the first repair visit, which means the single thing a consumer can still control is how early the problem gets reported,” Mkrtchyan said. “Go in at eight thousand miles instead of twenty and the deduction is less than half. A phone call with a service advisor that never makes it onto the repair order doesn’t count.”

Claim #: 5NMJC3DE0TH623318 / Jenna H Fields / 42638295 / Legal

Past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. Every matter is evaluated on its own merits. This article is provided for general information and is not legal advice.

About Court House Lawyers

Court House Lawyers is a Glendale, California law firm. Managing attorney George Mkrtchyan is a California lemon law attorney representing consumers statewide in defective vehicle claims, and the firm also handles personal injury matters including car and rideshare accidents, slip and fall, dog bites, pedestrian injuries, and wrongful death. George Mkrtchyan is a member of the State Bar of California (#339099) and is admitted to practice in federal court before the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

George Mkrtchyan, Esq.
Court House Lawyers
+1 818-293-8293
info@courthouselawyers.com
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