In love with lemons

By JUDY STEININGER	October 18, 2006
Vince Megna battles the big dogs and is considered one of the leading Lemon Law attorneys in the nation. Toyota could put attorney Vince Megna out of business, but General Motors keeps sending him disgruntled clients. The Washington Post has called him the "King of Lemon Laws" because in 650 cases against General Motors he has never lost. In all his years in practice, he’s sued Toyota a piddling 10 times. "Why doesn’t General Motors just make better cars?" he asks rhetorically. Megna is slightly taller than Danny DeVito and possesses the same wicked sense of humor. When he first started taking on the automotive giants and all their resources, it was the equivalent of DeVito going for a lay up against Shaquille O’Neal. By now, he’s proof that with the law and a good attorney on your side, even the little guy can win. Lemon Law cases comprise his entire practice, which he handles from his office in the firm Jastroch and LaBarge located in Waukesha. He drives there from his Brookfield home in a lemon yellow 2006 Corvette Coupe, license plates: LEMNLAW. Yes, that is a General Motors car. He’s driving a 2006 because his 2004 blue Corvette was a lemon! GM was forced to replace it because it had as many problems as a lemon has seeds. Megna is proud of Wisconsin’s Lemon Law. He considers it one of the best in the country. He explains the standard for a lemon is high; an annoying car with 10 different problems that are all fixed in one year won’t qualify. To qualify, the problem must relate to use, value or safety. The dealer gets four chances to fix it in a year. If the dealer cannot or the car is out of service for 30 days, the Lemon Law kicks in and the manufacturer has 30 days to make the problem right. If the manufacturer is not forthcoming, Megna comes calling with the statute behind him, and the manufacturer might as well ask the car owner what color he or she wants. If the corporation decides, as they often do, to fight him in court and lose, Megna’s client will get double damages as well as attorney’s fees and court costs. In March of 2006, Megna won what is the largest such settlement ever. DaimlerChrysler paid him and his client a total of $385,000. Megna quizzes, "It was an $80,000 Dodge Viper. Why didn’t they just give him a new one?" Like a lot of attorneys, Megna is a great raconteur. He has turned his story telling skills into two books. Bring on Goliath is a very readable retrospective of the Lemon Law field throughout the United States. The rear of his Corvette is featured on the cover. His most recent book (summer of 2006) should be kept on a high bookshelf if there are small children around. The title is "Lap Dancers Don’t Take Checks." A blond with more curves than a Porsche Boxster is lounging on a desk with Megna in a pinstriped suit and a grin full of irony standing behind her. "This book is directed right at attorneys. I’m sick of all the garbage. Lawyers simply cannot lie and cheat." Megna has had absolutely no personal relationships with lap dancers; he’s happily married to Connie and they have a 23-year-old son. Never a high school scholar, Megna left Waukesha for L.A. with his guitar. The kid was good! He spent 10 years on the coast playing with talent like Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart who wrote songs for the Monkees. With longer hair, he played with Teddy Randazo who wrote such memorable pieces as "Going Out of My Head" and "Hurt So Bad." "I also studied with jazz guitarist Herb Ellis. He’s the reason I went to L.A," says Megna. Few of his teachers would have predicted Megna would graduate from Marquette’s law school and his hard won national stature. "I graduated in the lower 10 percent of my class. I couldn’t get into any college. Finally someone at Milwaukee Institute of Technology (now MATC) listened to me; I begged, saying MIT was my only hope. "The counselor looked at me and said ‘O.K., you can come here, but you’ll never make it.’ People just start learning at different times." That experience with underdog status may be one of the reasons he enjoys defending the less powerful.