Lexington (MA) file lawsuit against Ferrara

[JackEMT 77]

I believe this came up on another topic thread, but here is a link to the actual suit filed this month. "Uninitiated deployment of deck spray gun" That might be interesting crowd control on unassuming pedestrians.

Blog: http://www.universalhub.com/2013/lexington-wants-nearly-1-million-replace-what-it

Lawsuit: http://www.universalhub.com/files/lexington-complaint.pdf

Lexington wants nearly $1 million to replace what it says is the little fire engine that couldn't

By adamg, Sun, 11/24/2013 - 6:23pm

The town of Lexington has sued a Louisiana firetruck company, alleging the company sold it a lemon of a firetruck that has problems ranging from steering, transmission and brake failures to a water gun going off by itself.

In its suit, filed earlier this month, the town wants Ferrara Fire Apparatus to reimburse it the $500,000 cost of Engine 2, the $465,000 Town Meeting appropriated earlier this year to buy a replacement, the money the town's already spent on non-warranty servicing and lawyer's fees. Plus, the town wants "multiple damages" for its problems with the troublesome truck.

The town originally sued Ferrara in Middlesex Superior Court; Ferrara last week had the case transferred to US District Court in Boston.

In its suit, the town said it's been forced to take Engine 2 out of service at least 24 times since it accepted delivery in 2010 - including eight times this year - and that it's been forced to use an old engine at the East Lexington fire station as a substitute for the 274 total days the vehicle has been in the shop.

[v85 212]

I'm not sure this is a hard and fast rule, but I believe the lemon law is harder to apply to commercial/emergency vehicles.

I hope they do get their money refunded though, especially with it being out of service for about 90% of a year

[EMT111 149]

I'm not sure this is a hard and fast rule, but I believe the lemon law is harder to apply to commercial/emergency vehicles.

It's not that it's harder to apply to emergency vehicles, it's that in most cases, Lemon law doesn't apply to emergency vehicles. We looked in to NY lemon laws for one of our ambulances and were told that a custom vehicle, such as an ambulance, doesn't fall under lemon law. I assume that the logic is that since there are so many choices a customer can make, it's so unlikely that every single piece will fit together perfectly every single time, and you can't hold a manufacturer accountable for the products not working together.

[Bnechis 3,961]

It's not that it's harder to apply to emergency vehicles, it's that in most cases, Lemon law doesn't apply to emergency vehicles. We looked in to NY lemon laws for one of our ambulances and were told that a custom vehicle, such as an ambulance, doesn't fall under lemon law. I assume that the logic is that since there are so many choices a customer can make, it's so unlikely that every single piece will fit together perfectly every single time, and you can't hold a manufacturer accountable for the products not working together.

You do not need the lemon law IF you wrote a good spec and have the proper protections in the contract. Its then a case of breech of contract. Our attorneys say it applies, but may and one of our dealers told us of a case that the manufacturer told them to replace a unit. THe problem is it may take another year or 2 to get the replacement.

[Avon Rob 40]

You can write great specs, but still receive a lemon. Once you enter the human element, mistakes can & usually happen. Every department has purchased a lemon at one time or another. Also. sometimes a company gets popular & starts to rush jobs to meet deadlines.