Avis Class Action Filed Over Its Website’s Terms and Conditions

A former Avis car rental customer is suing the company alleging that the terms of use on its website violates consumer rights under New Jersey law.

Plaintiff Joshua Schleifer says he rented a car from Avis using the company’s website in August 2015. He takes issue with certain provisions in the user agreement on Avis’s website, provisions he says would attempt to absolve Avis of liability in excess of what New Jersey state law allows.

He quotes a long disclaimer section from that user agreement, with language that purports to absolve Avis from practically any liability arising out of the consumer’s use of the Avis website. Schleifer says that with this disclaimer, Avis is attempting to leave its consumers without a legal remedy. He says that New Jersey courts have established that exculpatory clauses like that cannot be allowed.

The plaintiff’s claims generally fall under a New Jersey consumer protection law called the Truth in Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act. This act is a 1981 law that addresses the content of “consumer contracts, warranties, notices, and signs that violate consumer rights.” Schleifer says that the act was specifically designed to prevent businesses from avoiding liability and to protect the rights of consumers who need to seek redress from harm.

Schleifer argues that the TCCWNA works in conjunction with other New Jersey consumer protection statutes in such a way that multiplies the number of alleged TCCWNA violations mentioned in the Avis lawsuit. He says that contract language violates these other state laws whenever it attempts to reduce consumer’s rights under those laws.

For example, the New Jersey Punitive Damages Act creates a right for consumers to seek punitive damages against a business in certain circumstances. Schleifer says the exculpatory language in the Avis terms and conditions would take away consumers’ rights to seek damages, and therefore it violates the TCCWNA.

Schleifer also challenges Avis’s ability to safeguard consumers’ personal information that passes through its website. He says the company fails to provide the minimum protection and required notices under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. This failure is itself a TCCWNA violation, he argues.

The Avis terms and conditions include an acknowledgement that the limitations of liability the company is attempting to claim may be more than certain jurisdictions’ laws allow. Schleifer argues this provision is ambiguous with respect to which specific terms and conditions would or would not be enforceable under New Jersey law. For that reason, the plaintiff says, this provision itself violates the TCCWNA.

Schleifer is seeking to represent a Class of plaintiffs throughout the United States that includes all consumers who were presented with the terms and conditions on Avis’s website from the beginning of the applicable statute of limitations period through the date of final judgment in this Avis class action lawsuit.

He is asking the court to award at least the statutory minimum of $100 for every act of Avis that violates the TCCWNA, plus attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation. He is also seeking a court order terminating the Avis terms and conditions and requiring the company to remove them from its website.

The plaintiff is represented by Fred M. Zemel of The Zemel Law Firm, PC.

The Avis Consumer Rights Class Action Lawsuit is Schleifer v. Avis Rent A Car System LLC, et al., Case No. 2:16-CV-02090, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.