BMW Financial Services v. Smoke Rise Corp.
Georgia Court of Appeals
486 S.E.2d 629 (1997)
Smoke Rise Corporation (defendant) leased a car from BMW Financial Services (plaintiff). The lease charged 15 cents per mile over 85,011 miles at lease-end, or let Smoke Rise buy the car for $16,863 instead. Smoke Rise returned the car with 180,409 miles, declined to buy it, and refused to pay the resulting $14,309 excess-mileage fee, arguing the fee was unconscionable because it was almost as much as the buy-out price and far more than the car was actually worth. BMW sued to enforce the fee and sought attorneys' fees. The trial court denied BMW's summary judgment motion, and BMW obtained leave to appeal.
Whether a lease provision is void for unconscionability only if a reasonable person of sound mind would not have agreed to it at the time the lease was signed, and whether UCC § 2A-108(4) lets a lessor recover attorneys' fees when a consumer's unconscionability claim is groundless.