The Illinois Supreme Court has awarded vindication to a couple who purchased a lemon of a motorhome, when the court ruled the buyers were entitled to revoke their purchase of the dysfunctional vehicle and return it to the dealer.
This story by D.M. Herra originally appeared in the Cook County Record.
Defendant Vacationland argued that plaintiffs Kimberly Accettura and Adam Wozniak had not allowed it adequate time to fix the RV’s defects before revoking their acceptance of the trailer. After succeeding at the circuit and appellate levels, Vacationland lost its argument before the Supreme Court on Sept. 19.
Accettura and Wozniak purchased the RV new from Vacationland in April 2014. That June, they noticed a window leaked, and Vacationland offered to repair the issue at no charge. A month later, leaking windows during a rainstorm caused extensive damage inside the RV, including electrical failure. Vacationland told the couple it could not repair the defect itself and would have to send the RV back to the manufacturer.
Neither Vacationland nor the manufacturer would give the couple an estimate of how long the repairs would take, and the RV sat at the dealership for more than two weeks without being picked up by the manufacturer. Nearly three weeks after returning the vehicle for repairs, Accettura and Wozniak called Vacationland and “verbally revoked acceptance of the RV.”
About six weeks later, Vacationland called the couple and told them the repairs were complete and they could pick up the vehicle. The pair responded with a letter from their attorney confirming they had revoked their acceptance of the RV. They later filed a complaint in Kane County court seeking a return of the purchase price plus damages.
The case was remanded for further proceedings.
