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Thursday, July 1, 2004

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  Yang said he and a Mandarin-speaking saleswoman negotiated the price of a 1997 Toyota Corolla and orally agreed to a 12 percent loan. But the contract Yang ended up signing was written in English, and instead of paying $11,000 for the car at a 12 percent interest rate, he was charged more than $14,000 at nearly 17 percent.

Two years later, Ye and 11 other Chinese customers sued Wondries for taking advantage of their limited English skills, and the case was settled in April for an undisclosed amount.

The suit also spawned a new law that takes effect today designed to protect immigrant consumers from being tricked into signing agreements they don't understand.

The Consumer Protection for New Californians bill will require certain businesses to have contracts available in four major Asian languages, expanding a 28-year-old state law that protects people who negotiate deals in Spanish.

"I hope the new law will be really beneficial to ... the customers," said Zhengrong Li, one of the 12 plaintiffs in the Wondries suit. "I think it will benefit the minority people in California, especially the people from Asia."

The bill requires businesses that orally negotiate in Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Chinese to give their clients contracts written in those languages. It affects businesses such as car dealers, apartment owners, bankers and legal service providers.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, said these businesses were targeted because they often involved complex deals and lots of money.

Although the law also applies to layaway contracts and certain types of loan documents, it won't involve agreements for credit cards, mortgages, cell phones, cable TV or gym memberships.

The bill is being well received among California's Asian Americans.

"Those who take advantage of the people who don't speak English, they get money out of their pocket without doing [anything]," said Vietnamese immigrant Thuy Tran, 47, of Los Angeles. "I think it's a good idea for those who cannot speak English so they know what's going on."

California Motor Car Dealers Association opposed the bill because it didn't think the four Asian groups were large enough to justify the resulting expense to dealers, according to spokesman Brian Maas.

"The cost of translating those contracts and any subsequent agreements between the parties ... was substantial, and we felt it wasn't going to be implemented effectively," Maas said.

Chu said that more than 12 million people in California spoke a language besides English at home, according to census data, and that 83 percent of this group spoke Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Spanish.

She predicts similar laws will be passed in other states with large immigrant populations.

Richard Romero, general manager of two car dealerships in the San Gabriel Valley, supports the bill, saying it's part of doing business in a multicultural area such as Los Angeles.

"Everyone should be able to have clear and concise information, especially financial information," said Romero, who manages Toyota of Glendora and Glendora Hyundai. "It provides them with a clear understanding of what they're signing for in the language that's easiest for them to understand."

Dan Faller, president of Apartment Owners Association of Southern California, said the organization probably wouldn't have translated lease agreements ready for its 12,000 members until next year.

In the meantime, Faller said he was advising owners to require prospective Asian tenants to bring interpreters with them when leases are discussed. The new law does not require translated contracts if the customer brings an interpreter.

But Faller said the real solution was for Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese and Filipinos to learn English. "If you rented an apartment in China, would the agreement be in English?" he asked.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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