Mandatory Mediation in California Lemon Law Cases

Do I have to go to mediation in a California lemon law case?

You must participate in an early mandatory mediation if the manufacturer you sued has opted in to the AB 1755 procedures; if the manufacturer did not opt in, no such requirement applies to your case. The mediation mandate is part of the procedural package added by AB 1755 at Code of Civil Procedure sections 871.20 through 871.30, and under SB 26 it binds only manufacturers that elected in with the Department of Consumer Affairs. Whether your manufacturer is covered is a factual question you can answer in minutes using the manufacturer opt-in list; the rest of the 2025 changes are summarized on our AB 1755 hub.

"Mandatory" here means the process is required, not the result. Nobody can force you to accept a settlement at mediation. What the statute requires is that both sides show up, exchange core information, and make a genuine early attempt to resolve the case before litigation costs pile up.

When does the mediation happen?

The mediation runs on a fixed clock that starts when the manufacturer answers your complaint: the parties must schedule the mediation within 90 days of the answer and complete it within 150 days of the answer. For consumers, this is one of the genuinely favorable features of the new system. Under the old framework, a lemon law case could drift through a year or more of discovery disputes before anyone talked seriously about settlement. Under the new one, a manufacturer that opted in has committed to sitting across a table from you within roughly five months of answering.

Mediation itself is a confidential settlement conference run by a neutral mediator, typically lasting a day or less. You attend with your lawyer; the manufacturer sends a representative with settlement authority and its counsel. The mediator has no power to decide anything. The realistic outcomes are a buyback deal, a replacement deal, some other negotiated resolution, or an impasse that sends the case forward.

Is discovery stopped during the mediation period?

Yes, most discovery is stayed from the answer through the mediation period, with a limited early exchange of core materials carved out. During the stay, neither side propounds the usual waves of interrogatories, document demands, and depositions. The design trades broad discovery for speed: both sides get the documents that actually decide most lemon law cases, quickly and cheaply, and hold the expensive tools until mediation has had its chance.

For consumers this cuts in two directions. The good news is cost and speed: depositions and motion practice are where defense litigation budgets punish individual plaintiffs, and the stay postpones all of it. The caution is that you prepare for mediation on a limited record, which makes the quality of your own paperwork, especially complete repair orders, the center of your case.

What documents do I have to give the manufacturer?

You provide the core paperwork of your ownership and repair history: items like your repair orders and your purchase or lease contract. In practice, your side of the early exchange is built from documents you should already be keeping:

• Repair orders and invoices for every warranty visit, showing your complaint, the work done, the mileage, and the days in the shop.
• The purchase or lease contract, which establishes the price and payments that drive the buyback math under Civil Code section 1793.2(d)(2).

The manufacturer's side of the exchange includes its warranty claim records for your vehicle: the internal record of every warranty repair its dealers billed to it. Those records matter because they are the manufacturer's own accounting of how many chances it had to fix your vehicle, in its own documents rather than yours. If you have gaps in your repair paperwork, ask the servicing dealers for copies now; dealers keep repair histories, and rebuilding the record before litigation is far easier than during it.

Will the manufacturer inspect my vehicle?

Often, though as a matter of practice rather than a step AB 1755 itself requires: the statute mandates the early document exchange, and manufacturers then commonly request a vehicle inspection, which is usually arranged by agreement between counsel. When an inspection happens, it is routine: an expert retained by the manufacturer examines the vehicle, typically scans its computers, and may test drive it to evaluate the claimed defect. Practical points for consumers:

• Keep the vehicle in its ordinary condition. Do not have the defect "fixed" by an independent shop right before an inspection, and do not modify the vehicle.
• Keep driving it normally unless it is unsafe; an unused vehicle can complicate the picture.
• Coordinate through counsel. The inspection is scheduled between the lawyers, and your lawyer can attend or send a consultant.

What happens if mediation fails?

If mediation does not resolve the case, the case simply proceeds and normal discovery opens. The stay lifts, both sides can take depositions and serve written discovery, and the case moves toward trial like any other civil action. Nothing about an unsuccessful mediation weakens your claim: statements made in mediation are confidential and cannot be used against you later.

Two features of the law keep pressure on the manufacturer even after a failed mediation. First, fee-shifting under Civil Code section 1794(d) means a manufacturer that litigates and loses pays your attorney fees on top of the judgment. Second, if you preserved your civil penalty claim with a compliant pre-suit notice, a willful refusal to comply exposes the manufacturer to a penalty of up to two times your actual damages under section 1794(c).

What release will I sign if we settle?

An opted-in manufacturer cannot condition your buyback or replacement on any release other than the standardized Song-Beverly release template. This is a quiet but important consumer protection in the new system. Under the old framework, settlement releases were a common friction point, with manufacturers sometimes seeking broad waivers, confidentiality terms, or conditions well beyond the lemon law claim itself. If a settlement of your Song-Beverly remedy against an opted-in manufacturer arrives with a release that goes beyond the standardized template, that is a red flag to raise with your lawyer before signing anything.

Timing is the last piece to keep in view: mediation happens only after a suit is filed, and suits against opted-in manufacturers face a sharply shortened filing window. The one-year and six-year rules are worked through with examples on our deadlines page, and the basics of what qualifies as a lemon are in the California lemon law guide.