Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9410190065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-7 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Gayle, a Henrico County lawyer, is the co-author and defender of Virginia's ``lemon law,'' officially known as the Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act.
``The car dealers probably don't like me,'' Gayle said. ``I'm trying to force them to pay up in areas where they haven't had to pay before.''
Under the lemon law, consumers have 18 months after they buy a new car to give written notice of its defects. With such a notice and if certain other conditions are met, manufacturers are required to fully refund the purchase price, give the consumer interest on a car loan or negotiate a settlement.
Gayle spends most of his time representing clients in lemon law cases. Gov. George Allen recently appointed him to the Motor Vehicle Dealer's Advisory Board.
The board, which advises the governor, the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of Education, is made up primarily of dealers.
``I feel like David in the den of lions,'' said Gayle. He said the dealers on the board were cordial at his first meeting.
Gayle, a 1979 graduate of the University of Richmond's law school, has been concentrating on the state's lemon laws since 1982, when he attended a lemon law conference.
After Virginia passed its first lemon law in 1984, Gayle wrote an article about its weaknesses that attracted the attention of Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, the law's chief sponsor.
``He said, `You rewrite a new law and I'll get it passed,''' Gayle said.
Along with colleague Herb Beskin of Charlottesville, Gayle researched the nation's lemon laws and submitted a number of amendments to Diamonstein's office.
The amendments, enacted in 1988, increased from 12 to 18 months the time allowed a consumer to take action after buying a new car. They also reduced the number of repairs a car must have before it can qualify as a lemon from three to four, or just one for certain safety-related defects.
The amended law, which was fine-tuned in 1990, also covered lawyers' fees in settlements to give consumers an incentive to sue.
Gayle's dedication to consumer rights has earned him numerous admirers.
``He's great,'' said Jean Ann Fox, president of Virginia Citizens Consumer Council and the Consumer Federation of America. ``There aren't that many private lawyers who make consumer practice their main practice.''
Auto dealers aren't so happy.
``I'm not sure anyone in our industry could be objective,'' said Don Hall, a lobbyist for the Virginia Automobile Dealer's Association. ``John has an agenda, and we obviously don't share that agenda.''
Hall said dealers support the lemon law to ``place the blame on manufacturers when the car is a lemon.'' But he said his group would have opposed Gayle's appointment to the governor's motor vehicle advisory board had they known about it.
In the meantime, he is helping to staff a toll-free line at Mid-Atlantic Consumer Services Inc. in Northern Virginia, where consumers who believe their car is a lemon can receive a free legal evaluation.
``The bottom line is I know I've helped their lives,'' he said of his clients. ``That's a wonderful feeling.''
Gayle drives a 1993 Volvo. So far, the car isn't a lemon. ``The dealer has been very nice to me.''
by CNB