Pa. couple cites Lemon Law in suit over faulty motor home

A married couple in Luzerene County has filed a Lemon Law claim against the manufacturers of a motor home that needed constant repairs, according to a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Gerald and Patsy Levandoski, of Mountain Top, Pa., seek full restitution of the purchase price for the motor home, more than $160,000, from Ford Motor Company, which supplied the chassis used by co-defendant Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc. as part of the vehicle's manufacture. The finished product was sold to the plaintiffs by Colton Auto, Inc., a dealership located in New York that conducts business in Pennsylvania.

According to the complaint, on Aug. 18, 2011 the Levandoskis purchased the motor home, a 2011 Tiffin Allegro, from Colton Auto. In April 2012, the first of many repairs to the transmission line occurred, with just over 6,000 miles on the odometer.

The leaky transmission was persistent, as five more repair attempts were made by the dealer between Oct. 2012 and Sept. 2013 before the couple finally gave up on the vehicle, the suit claims.

"As a result of the ineffective repair attempts made by the defendants through their authorized dealer," the complaint says, "the vehicle is rendered substantially impaired, unable to be utilized for its intended purposes, and is worthless to the plaintiffs."

The complaint says the motor home qualifies for damage sunder the Lemon Law because repairs have been attempted on the same defect more than four times. The defendants have also been accused of using false and deceptive practices in the sale of the motorhome by misrepresenting that the vehicle was free from defects that would impair it.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jason Greshes of Kimmel & Silverman in Ambler, Pa.

The federal case ID number is 2:14-cv-04139-RB.