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Chapter 4: A Brief History of Lemon Law The U.C.C.’s focus on commercial transactions seriously limits its use to consumers. The first official U.C.C. emerged in 1952, after more than ten years of drafting and revisions. Substantial revisions and amendments followed over the next several years, until finally in 1961 the National Conference decided to establish a Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code. The board released its official text of the U.C.C. in 1962. Since then, forty-nine states have enacted some form of the U.C.C.-all except Lousiana. The purpose of the U.C.C. was to simplify, clarify, and modernize the law governing commerce and trade, and to standardize commercial law among the various states. Thus, the U.C.C. applies primarily to commercial transactions between commercial parties. The U.C.C. was not designed for consumers as much as it was for merchants. It does not take into account the unique realities of consumer purchases. It does not provide sufficient protection for consumers. California was one of the first states to address this problem, and to this day California still has one of the country’s strongest lemon laws. 1970: Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act Laws that benefit the individual inevitably come under attack by corporate interests. Somewhere between the needs of both there is fairness. Under California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, manufacturers are entitled only to a reasonable number of attempts to repair defective consumer goods. If manufacturers or their agents are unsuccessful, they must either replace the goods or refund the purchase price. This is the basic remedy that nearly all lemon laws now provide. The Song-Beverly Act is also meant to make it economically viable for consumers to bring warranty suits, by providing for an award of attorneys’ fees. The law bears the name of its authors in the California legislature, Alfred H. Song and Robert G. Beverly.

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