California Contract Law Protects Immigrants

Immigrants who do not speak English often negotiate a used car sale in their own language. But they then cannot read the contracts they sign because the agreements are in English. It is illegal if the terms of the written contract are not what was agreed upon verbally, according to Laurel Pallock, a consumer protection investigator with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. California law, for 30 years, has required that negotiations conducted in Spanish be finalized with a written contract in the same language. And just a year ago, the law was amended to also cover Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Chinese.

The law covers contracts for new and used car purchases and leases, apartment rentals, legal services fee agreements, retail installment plans (for televisions, refrigerators, etc.), and unsecured consumer bank loans. If you find a seller in violation of the law, please report it to your local district attorney's office.