Small claims lawsuit against Honda

Car owner wins $9,867 small claims lawsuit against Honda.

We all know that car salesmen may stretch the truth, but the advertising the car manufacturers make about the expected gas mileage of one of their new cars, should not. Or so thought Heather Peters, who was promised at least 50 mpg from the car she purchased, a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. “It barely made it to 30 mpg” she states. Other owners of Honda Civic Hybrids realized they weren’t getting the gas mileage they were promised either. The group started a class action lawsuit against Honda, which they eventually settled out of court for. The amount that Honda agreed to pay came out to about $100 per person, plus rebates toward a new car. Many took the settlement, but it didn’t satisfy Peters. She refused the settlement and instead, filed a claim in the Los Angeles County small-claims court system. A former lawyer, Peters chose to take her case to small-claims court in order to avoid paying the court fees and the cost of hiring an attorney. Peters won the case and was awarded $9,867, which is just shy of the $10,000 maximum judgment a small claims court can award. Peters has opened the eyes of Honda Hybrid owners everywhere, making them see that they can file the same type of case and receive similar compensation. This isn’t the news that Honda wanted to hear, it could mean that they may have to pay out a lot more than they had originally anticipated. As Heather Peters said in a statement to Jalopnik, “It’s a great victory for all Civic Hybrid owners!” She has also created a website, dontsettlewithhonda.org to try and encourage others to follow in her footsteps and take their cases to court as well. Peters added, “Honda should be afraid that people may decide to follow my advice and use them”. On the website, she includes information to help other Civic owners file a small-claims case and win.