The U.S. District Court recently refused to dismiss a conversion claim (money theft, in plainspeak) filed by a lemon owner against Toyota. In Ortega v. Toyota Motor Sales, the Court handed down a decision that supports consumers’ rights to sue a vehicle manufacturer when they don’t provide a refund in a timely manner - a surprising but welcome victory for consumers.

According to the Citizen Media Law Project, a conversion “applies when someone intentionally interferes with personal property belonging to another person.” In this case, the court found that the refund was the consumer’s personal property, and that he had the right to sue Toyota for conversion when it didn’t pony up the money.

Daniel Ortega had filed a lemon lawsuit under two other laws (which weren’t addressed in this decision): the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act - the latter being California’s Lemon Law. According to Ortega, he had purchased a Toyota Scion tC in late 2006, and the vehicle then had “problems with the check engine light illuminating, engine noise, burning oil, transmission grinding, and engine seizure.”