California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Riley v. Ford Motor Co., F071226 (Cal. App. 2017):
In Kwan v. Mercedes Benz of North America (1994) 23 Cal.App.4th 174 (Kwan), Justice Werdegar discussed the slipperiness of the term "willfulness" and concluded that a violation of the statutory obligation to replace the vehicle or refund the purchase price "is not willful if the defendant's failure to replace or refund was the result of a good faith and reasonable belief the facts imposing the statutory obligation were not present." (Id. at p. 185.) She also explained that "[a] decision made without the use of reasonably available information germane to that decision is not a reasonable, good faith decision." (Id. at p. 186.)
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