The San Diego Lemon Law Center

The Law Office of Michael E. Lindsey

Mr. Lindsey attended the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, graduating from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1981. His practice is in civil litigation, and exclusively in the area of consumer law. Mr. Lindsey is a founding member of the Southern California Auto Fraud Lawyers Association, a group of trial lawyers specializing in consumer protection cases under the Automobile Sales Finance Act, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and the Song Beverly Act. He is also a member of the National Consumer Law Center, and the National Association of Consumer Attorneys, nationwide organizations representing consumers on important areas of the law that affect us all. Mr. Lindsey has been a contributor to NACA publications on consumer law issues, and has seven published opinions from California Courts of Appeal, and from the United States Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Lindsey has been representing consumers in claims against automobile finance companies, dealers and manufacturers under consumer statutes exclusively since 1995, and is admitted to the all federal courts in California.

Mr. Lindsey has handled hundreds of vehicle cases, under the Automobile Sales Finance Act, the Song-Beverly Act, and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act.  To date, Mr. Lindsey has eight published opinions.  They are, Oregel v. American Isuzu, 90 Cal.App.4th 1094 (2001); Juarez v. Arcadia Financial, (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 889; Paduano v. American Honda Motor, 169 Cal.App.4th 1453 (2009); Ortega v. Toyota , 572 F.Supp.2d 1218, and published on April 9, 2010, Salenga v. Mitsubishi Credit, (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 986, Aguayo v. U.S. Bank 2011 WL 3250465 published on August 1, 2011.  See also Aho v.  AmeriCredit Financial Services, Inc.  2012 WL 273780, 1 (S.D.Cal.)  (S.D.Cal.,2012). Three of the published cases, Aguayo, Juarez and Salenga, deal specifically with important class action issues under the Unfair Competition Law and the Automobile Sales Finance Act.  Aguayo and Paduano, also deal with Federal preemption issues.  Oregel, Paduano, and Ortega, deal with the California Lemon Law. On March 21, 2013, California Court of Appeal 4th District published Ramirez v. Balboa Thrift and Loan, making definitive law on provisions of the Automobile Sales Finance Act.

Juarez v. Arcadia Financial, (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 889, is the seminal case in this area on post repossession notices and deficiency balances.  It established the requirements for the post repossession Notice of Intent to Dispose of Vehicle in California, Civil Code § 2983.2 (a).  It also established that if the Notice fails to comply with the ASFA, the finance company is not entitled to any deficiency following the sale of the vehicle.