Thomas A. Dickerson.
The recent decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Venerus v. Avis Budget Car Rental, LLC, No. 16-16993 (Jan. 25, 2018) reminds me once again, after 40 years of writing about travel law that the worst, by far, violators of consumer rights in the travel industry are some U.S. rental car companies.
From the 1987 consumer class action, Weinberg v. The Hertz Corp., 116 A.D. 2d 1 (1st Dept.), aff’d 69 N.Y. 2d 979 (1987) (excessive gasoline charges; class certification granted; 2.8 million consumers) to the Venerus case and beyond, the Courts have had to deal with the consequences of misleading, deceptive, unfair and unconscionable marketing behavior of some U.S. rental car companies, typically within the context of nationwide class actions.
