Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 322G - Defective Motor Vehicles (Lemon Law)

• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Collateral charges: means those additional charges to a consumer wholly incurred as a result of the acquisition of the motor vehicle. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Condition: means a general problem that may be attributable to a defect in more than one part. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Consumer: means the purchaser or lessee, other than for purposes of lease or resale, of a new or previously untitled motor vehicle, or any other person entitled by the terms of the warranty to enforce the obligations of the warranty during the duration of the lemon law rights period. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Days: means calendar days. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the attorney general. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Extension: means a place of business of an authorized vehicle recycler other than the principal place of business within the county of the principal place of business. See Iowa Code 321H.2
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Incidental charges: means those reasonable costs incurred by the consumer, including, but not limited to, towing charges and the costs of obtaining alternative transportation, which are the direct result of the nonconformity or nonconformities which are the subject of the claim. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lease price: means the aggregate of the following:
   a. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Lemon law rights period: means the term of the manufacturer's written warranty, the period ending two years after the date of the original delivery of a motor vehicle to a consumer, or the first twenty-four thousand miles of operation attributable to a consumer, whichever expires first. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Lessee: means any consumer who leases a motor vehicle for one year or more pursuant to a written lease agreement which provides that the lessee is responsible for repairs to the motor vehicle. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Lessor: means a person who holds the title to a motor vehicle leased to a lessee under a written lease agreement or who holds the lessor's rights under the agreement. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Manufacturer: means a person engaged in the business of constructing or assembling new motor vehicles or installing on previously assembled vehicle chassis special bodies or equipment which, when installed, form an integral part of the new motor vehicle, or a person engaged in the business of importing new motor vehicles into the United States for the purpose of selling or distributing the new motor vehicles to new motor vehicle dealers. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Motor vehicle: means a self-propelled vehicle purchased or leased in this state, except as provided in section 322G. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Nonconformity: means a defect, malfunction, or condition in a motor vehicle such that the vehicle fails to conform to the warranty, but does not include a defect, malfunction, or condition that results from an accident, abuse, neglect, modification, or alteration of the motor vehicle by persons other than the manufacturer or its authorized service agent. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Owner: means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property right in or title to an all-terrain vehicle. See Iowa Code 321I.1
• Person: means person as defined in section 714. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Program: means an informal dispute settlement procedure established by a manufacturer which mediates and arbitrates motor vehicle warranty disputes arising in this state. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Purchase price: means the cash price paid for the motor vehicle appearing in the sales agreement or contract, including any net allowance given for a trade-in vehicle. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Reasonable offset for use: means the number of miles attributable to a consumer up to the date of the third attempt to repair the same nonconformity which is the subject of the claim, or the first attempt to repair a nonconformity that is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, or the twentieth cumulative day when the vehicle is out of service by reason of repair of one or more nonconformities, whichever occurs first, multiplied by the purchase price of the vehicle, or in the event of a leased vehicle, the lessor's actual lease price plus an amount equal to two percent of the purchase price, and divided by one hundred twenty thousand. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Replacement motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle which is identical or reasonably equivalent to the motor vehicle to be replaced, and as the motor vehicle to be replaced would have existed without the nonconformity at the time of original acquisition. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• Resident: means as defined in section 483A. See Iowa Code 321I.1
• Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
• Selling: includes bartering, exchanging, or otherwise dealing in. See Iowa Code 321H.2
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Substantially impair: means to render the motor vehicle unfit, unreliable, or unsafe for warranted or ordinary use, or to significantly diminish the value of the motor vehicle. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Vehicle: means any vehicle as defined in chapter 321. See Iowa Code 321H.2
• Warranty: means any written warranty issued by the manufacturer; or any affirmation of fact or promise made by the manufacturer, excluding statements made by the dealer, in connection with the sale or lease of a motor vehicle to a consumer, which relates to the nature of the material or workmanship and affirms or promises that the material or workmanship is free of defects or will meet a specified level of performance. See Iowa Code 322G.2
• year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1