Skip to Content (Press Enter)

Skip to Nav (Press Enter)

Effective, Experienced, Exceptional.

Firm Profile

Single Document Rule

Subscribe to Consumer Finance

Thank you for your desire to subscribe to Severson & Werson’s Consumer Finance Weblog. In order to subscribe, you must provide a valid name and e-mail address. This too will be retained on our server. When you push the “subscribe button”, we will send an electronic mail to the address that you provided asking you to confirm your subscription to our Weblog. By pushing the “subscribe button”, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 years old, are the owner/authorized user of that e-mail address, and are entitled to receive e-mails at that address. Our weblog will retain your name and e-mail address on its server, or the server of its web host. However, we won’t share any of this information with anyone except the Firm’s employees and contractors, except under certain extraordinary circumstances described on our Privacy Policy and (About The Consumer Finance Blog/About the Appellate Tracker Weblog) Page. NOTICE AND AGREEMENT REGARDING E-MAILS AND CALLS/TEXT MESSAGES TO LAND-LINE AND WIRELESS TELEPHONES: By providing your contact information and confirming your subscription in response to the initial e-mail that we send you, you agree to receive e-mail messages from Severson & Werson from time-to-time and understand and agree that such messages are or may be sent by means of automated dialing technology. If you have your email forwarded to other electronic media, including text messages and cellular telephone by way of VoIP, internet, social media, or otherwise, you agree to receive my messages in that way. This may result in charges to you. Your agreement and consent also extend to any other agents, affiliates, or entities to whom our communications are forwarded. You agree that you will notify Severson & Werson in writing if you revoke this agreement and that your revocation will not be effective until you notify Severson & Werson in writing. You understand and agree that you will afford Severson & Werson a reasonable time to unsubscribe you from the website, that the ability to do so depends on Severson & Werson’s press of business and access to the weblog, and that you may still receive one or more emails or communications from weblog until we are able to unsubscribe you.

Court of Appeal (Cal.) Says in Unpublished Decision that Payment Plan for Downpayment Was Not a “Deferred Downpayment” under Rees-Levering

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Chavez v. Golden Auto Grp., Inc., No. E078712, 2023 WL 4875175, at *1–2 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 1, 2023), the Court of Appeal found in an unpublished decision that a deferral agreement to pay a downpayment in installments that was not reflected on the RISC violated Rees-Levering. The ASFA requires car dealers to disclose all the terms of a… Read More

California Supreme Court Issues Raceway Ford Decision on “Backdating” of RISCs in Spot-Delivery Situation and on “Single Document Rule”

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Raceway Ford Cases, the California Supreme Court found that a car dealer did not violate the AFSA in backdating a RISC to the date of sale when financing could not be found after a spot-delivery. The Automobile Sales Finance Act (ASFA), also known as the Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Finance Act (Civ. Code, § 2981 et seq.) is… Read More

Court of Appeal (Cal.) Says Post-Dated Checks Given at Time of Sale and Informal Agreement to Deposit Them Upon Date of Check Are Not “Deferred Down-Payments” Under Rees-Levering and Do Not Violate the “Single Document Rule”

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Nichols v. Century West, LLC, 2016 WL 4368157, at *7–8 (Cal.App. 2 Dist., 2016), the Court of Appeal held that post-dated checks were not "deferred down-payments" under ASFA and did not violate the single document rule. None of these cases offers guidance on whether post-dated checks provided to a dealership at the time of a sale should be categorized as… Read More

Court of Appeal (Cal.) Reverses Trial Court’s Defense Ruling on Backdating Claims under Rees-Levering, but Remands on Whether Class Can Be Maintained; Says Nelson Decision on “Single Document Rule” Was Wrong

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Raceway Ford Cases, --- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, 2014 WL 4589808 (Cal.App. 4 Dist. 2014), the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's finding in favor of defendant car dealer as to backdating claims, but remanded to the trial court to determine whether the action could still be maintained as a class action.  The Court of Appeal's decision is important because of its… Read More