Legal File

LEGAL FILE

Jaguar's refusal of dealer's move ruled OK

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 28, 2012
A Connecticut dealership group's attempt to sue Jaguar Land Rover North America for rejecting the group's store consolidation plans has failed. A 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals panel in New York ruled unanimously that the dealer agreement gave the manufacturer wide discretion to review relocation requests.... Read More »

 

Price dispute won't hinder supplies to Eberspaecher - for now

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 8, 2012
Eberspaecher North America's price dispute with a Tier 2 supplier won't affect its ability to receive parts, at least for now. A federal judge in Detroit has granted a preliminary injunction against Nelson Global Products Inc. that requires the company to continue providing exhaust system parts to Eberspaecher until their contract dispute gets resolved.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Judge: Axed Nissan dealership had time to improve but didn't

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 30, 2012
A Detroit-area Nissan store has lost its fight against termination by the automaker.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Dealer wins in court but may never collect

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 23, 2012
The opening of Tommy Manuel's new Chrysler-Jeep point in South Arlington, Texas, was delayed by a year because of a competitor's protest. Now the state Court of Appeals says Manuel and his companies are entitled to $370,668 for lost profits because DaimlerChrysler Motors failed to use its "best efforts" to resolve the protest faster.... Read More »

 

Ky.'s attempt to protect rejected dealers fails

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 9, 2012
Kentucky's attempt to protect dealers rejected as a result of an automaker's bankruptcy has slammed into a barrier: the U.S. Constitution.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Dealer's day in court

12:01 am U.S. ET | March 26, 2012
A Georgia dealership group can pursue RICO, fraud and related claims against American Suzuki Motor Corp., a federal judge has ruled.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Kia dealer: Judge missed legislators' intent

12:01 am U.S. ET | March 12, 2012
A federal judge in Detroit has rebuffed a suburban Kia dealership's challenge to a proposed new point 7 miles from its store.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

What's in a name? Plenty, Wash. retail group says

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 27, 2012
A Washington state dealership group has won a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit to block an unaffiliated used-vehicle store from using a similar name.... Read More »

 

NEWS ANALYSIS

After Honda verdict, will consumers head to court?

11:16 am U.S. ET | Feb. 6, 2012
Heather Peters' win in a Los Angeles small claims court against Honda has all the makings of a David vs. Goliath battle, but some experts are skeptical it will spur angry consumers nationwide to do what she did: abandon complaint lines, class-action suits and lawyers, and just go it alone through the legal system.... Read More »

 

Suzuki, dealership head to trial in franchise dispute

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 6, 2012
A federal judge in Detroit has ordered a trial to determine whether American Suzuki Motor Corp. acted in good faith when it terminated a Michigan dealership's franchise in December 2010. The decision by U.S. District Judge Sean Cox provides an opportunity for Stephen Michaels LLC, which does business as Consumers Suzuki in Brighton, Mich., to prove that the termination of its 2005 dealer agreement violated the state's dealer law.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Claims against S.C. stores OK'd for trial

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 30, 2012
For the second time, the South Carolina Supreme Court has cleared the way for trials on customers' class-action claims that dealerships statewide collected millions of dollars in illegal administrative fees from their customers. Last month, the court unanimously reaffirmed its April 2010 ruling that the dealerships' contractual ban on arbitration of class-action claims violates the state's public policy.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

California VW dealer moves closer to stopping competing store

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 9, 2012
A Volkswagen dealer near Los Angeles is a step closer to halting construction of a VW store less than nine miles away. The California New Motor Vehicle Board, in a 4-0 decision on Dec. 13, ruled that the protest by dealer Gary Sherman, of Ontario Volkswagen in Ontario, Calif., to a proposed new dealership in Montclair, Calif., was valid. The decision by the board overrides a previous decision by an administrative law judge.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Judge lets ex-dealership's suit against Ally proceed

12:01 am U.S. ET | Dec. 5, 2011
A former Chevrolet dealership and its principals can pursue most of their claims that a cash-strapped GMAC forced their family-owned store to fail, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled. The suit claims that GMAC reduced their floorplan financing and revolving line of credit and demanded accelerated payments.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Dealer fights Mazda over termination of franchise

12:01 am U.S. ET | Dec. 5, 2011
A Washington state dealer convicted of environmental felonies can challenge Mazda Motor of America Inc.'s termination of his franchise, a federal judge has ruled. Failure to file an on-time administrative protest to the termination does not prevent Wolfgang Roempke from litigating in court, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said.... Read More »

 

Toyota wins right to pursue appeal in unintended acceleration suits

7:34 am U.S. ET | Nov. 17, 2011
Toyota won approval to proceed with its appeal of a judge's ruling that allowed plaintiffs who hadn't had problems with sudden unintended acceleration of their vehicles to seek economic damages for the alleged defect.... Read More »

 

CHAD HALCOM

Furukawa deal will not cover former CEO of U.S. subsidiary

11:07 am U.S. ET | Nov. 15, 2011
We've been hearing for a while that the impending global prosecution of automotive suppliers for alleged price-fixing would fan out far beyond Japanese wire harness maker Furukawa Electric.... Read More »

 

Ford avoids $43 million judgment from fatal crash in Illinois

4:14 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 3, 2011
Ford has been spared a $43 million court judgment in Illinois from a lawsuit that stemmed from a fatal crash in 2003. The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the judgment in a ruling made public on Wednesday.... Read More »

 

2 former Furukawa Electric execs plead guilty to price-fixing charges

2:14 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 25, 2011
One former executive of Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. hopes to remain in the United States and another to return to Japan after their guilty pleas Monday to conspiracy to restrain trade on automotive parts in a scheme valued at over $100 million.... Read More »

 

PHILIP NUSSEL

Supplier price-fixing probes will spark years of litigation

2:27 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 24, 2011
If you are an auto industry litigator, especially in the Detroit area, congratulations on your good fortune in securing perhaps years of top-billing legal work. The fallout from the price-fixing criminal prosecution of Furukawa Electric Co. has already spawned 10 lawsuits -- including three from dealership groups.... Read More »

 

Ford wins reversal of $43 million award in Ill. fatal crash case

12:34 pm U.S. ET | Sept. 22, 2011
Ford won reversal of an Illinois jury's $43 million damage award in a lawsuit filed after a 2003 crash killed a 73-year-old man and severely burned his wife.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Judge: Audi bonus programs violated N.Y. dealer law

12:01 am U.S. ET | Sept. 19, 2011
Two now-defunct Volkswagen Group of America dealer incentive programs violated New York law by treating new Audi dealers more favorably than existing dealers, a state Supreme Court judge has ruled. The Keep-It-Audi Program provided existing dealers pricing benefits on used vehicles, and the CPO Purchase Bonus Program gave them pricing benefits on new vehicles. All benefits were based on the number of returning off-lease vehicles they purchased from Audi Financial.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Store needn't disclose minor repairs

12:01 am U.S. ET | Sept. 5, 2011
A California appeals court has ruled that a Los Angeles-area dealership didn't violate state law by failing to tell a buyer that his new Hummer had been vandalized in an eco-terrorism attack and repaired. The Court of Appeal rejected the plaintiff's attempt to rescind the purchase of a $69,587 2003 Hummer H2 and to collect damages under consumer protection and other laws.... Read More »

 

Hyundai Chairman Chung makes record charitable contribution

8:32 am U.S. ET | Aug. 30, 2011
Chung Mong-koo, chairman of the Hyundai-Kia Motor Group, has made a record charitable donation of nearly a half-billion dollars to help the poor in South Korea, reportedly as part of the reparation gift he pledged in 2006 while embroiled in an embezzlement scandal.... Read More »

 

LEGAL FILE

Dealer loses bid to restore Nissan franchise

12:01 am U.S. ET | July 18, 2011
The franchise of a Wisconsin Nissan dealer plagued by substandard "sales effectiveness" ratings was justifiably terminated, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals panel has ruled. The three-member appellate panel upheld the action of Nissan North America Inc. in terminating Ralph Gentile Inc. for performance-related "material breaches" of the dealership agreement.... Read More »

 

Supplier's former execs plead guilty to fraud for using cheaper plastics

1:05 pm U.S. ET | June 15, 2011
The owners of a suburban Detroit auto supplier have pleaded guilty to federal criminal fraud charges in a case U.S. officials said will serve as a deterrent to other firms looking to cut costs by using cheaper plastic resins. David Bernhardt, the former president of plastics molder Davalor Mold Corp., and Orman Bernhardt, the former director of operations, on Monday pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud each in the U.S.... Read More »