Remedies: What You Can Recover Under Maryland Lemon Law

Maryland’s Lemon Law (§ 14-1501) and the CPA overlay (§ 13-101) produce a strong remedy package: refund or replacement, CPA actual damages, and mandatory attorney fees under two statutes.

The five primary remedies

1. Refund (buyback) — Full purchase price, sales tax, registration, finance charges, incidental costs, minus reasonable use deduction under § 14-1502(e).
2. Replacement vehicle — Comparable new vehicle (consumer chooses between refund and replacement).
3. Cash and keep (settlement) — Diminished-value settlement common in pre-IDS negotiations.
4. CPA damages — Actual damages + mandatory § 13-408(b) attorney fees for deceptive practices.
5. Attorney fees — Discretionary § 14-1502 Lemon Law fees + mandatory CPA § 13-408(b) fees + Magnuson-Moss § 2310(d)(2) fees.

Refund / replacement math

Under § 14-1502(e), the refund must include:

• Full purchase price (or lease payments + residual)
• Sales tax + registration / title fees
• Finance charges + interest paid
• Incidental damages (rental, towing, diagnostic fees)
• LESS: reasonable use offset

Maryland courts typically use a 120,000-mile life-expectancy denominator (consistent with peer states).

CPA — the deceptive-practices layer

CPA (§ 13-101) adds:

• Actual damages for deceptive practices.
• Mandatory § 13-408(b) attorney fees.
• 3-year SOL under Md. Code Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101.

Note: Maryland CPA does NOT provide automatic treble damages — unlike NJ CFA’s § 56:8-19 mandatory treble or NC UDTPA’s § 75-16 automatic treble. CPA’s strength is in mandatory fees and broad coverage of deceptive practices.

Attorney fees — three recovery bases

Statute	Standard	Trigger
§ 14-1502	Discretionary (“may award”)	Prevailing on Lemon Law
CPA § 13-408(b)	Mandatory	Prevailing on CPA
Magnuson-Moss § 2310(d)(2)	Mandatory	Prevailing under MMWA

This makes Maryland a strong fee-shifting jurisdiction — three independent bases (CPA and Magnuson-Moss mandatory; the Lemon Law fee discretionary).

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