9 ms·
Judge dismisses dealers' lawsuit against Tesla's retail stores
- hayksaakian 14y agoWhat an absurd lawsuit.
- loceng 14y agoNot for a group trying to maintain status quo and control..
- dlgeek 14y agoI'm not so sure - looks like the law might very well be in their favor. (You could argue about the merits of the law, but not the lawsuit). http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXV/Chapter93B/Section4 http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXV/... - (c) It shall be deemed a violation of subsection (a) of section 3 for a manufacturer, distributor or franchisor representative: (10) to own or operate, either directly or indirectly through any subsidiary, parent company or firm, a motor vehicle dealership located in the commonwealth of the same line make as any of the vehicles manufactured, assembled or distributed by the manufacturer or distributor. (It goes on with a bunch of exceptions that I'm not qualified to evaluate) WRT standing, Section 6 of the chapter, part E allows other dealerships to sue to stop the establishment of franchises (which this arguably may be) and section F specifically states that "the fact that a protesting dealer has standing shall not be considered by the court in assessing the merits of the protest;" They may very well have a strong case.
- jlgreco 14y agoAn absurd law does not render an absurd lawsuit sane.
- IheartApplesDix 14y agoIt does when money is involved.
- jlgreco 14y agoPerhaps if you are a lawyer. I am not.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- sixQuarks 14y agoThe wording doesn't make sense. It basically says no manufacturer can operate a dealership that's located in the "commonwealth of the same line make" - what the hell does that mean? I interpret it as meaning no manufacturer can operate a dealership within the same territory as an existing dealership that sells the manufacturer's make. So if that's correct, then the judge did the right thing. Since Tesla doesn't have any dealers to compete with.
- hdevalence 14y agoThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- stcredzero 14y agoI hope that not having dealers becomes a competitive advantage for them. I further hope that other car companies respond by creating subsidiaries that make entirely different lines of cars that are electric cars.
- sophacles 14y agoYou are randomly highlighting and declaring nonsense. Well done non-sequitur man. "in the commonwealth" is one prepositional phrase meaning "within the boundaries of Massachusetts". "of the same line make" is a different prepositional phrase meaning "make and model" (presumably either the legal term or an older legal term meaning that). It doesn't refer to existing or non-existing dealerships. It says the manufacturer cannot own a dealership that sells that car. Furhter, it cannot do so through a subsidiary or shell company. Even further, it prohibits "distributors" and "assemblers" from using funky language and/or corporate ownership games to get around the restriction.
- tomjen3 14y agoGiven that the Judge threw the lawsuit out, it seems fairly difficult not to argue against it. But even if he had not, I would still argue against it, as it shows an extreme lack of morals on the part of the francishers.
- ksherlock 14y agoThe judge dismissed the suit over a lack of standing, which the law specifically says he can't do. If the lawsuit was really so absurd, he should have had a stronger reason to dismiss it.
- pyre 14y ago| a factory cannot own a store, and a dealer can sue | for injunctive relief if they feel the public is being | harmed. I wonder how they feel that the public is being harmed. Seems to me more like they don't like the competition.
- ok_craig 14y agoCan anyone inform us on why there is such a law as "a factory cannot own a store" in the first place?
- boredguy8 14y agoThese laws were established in the 1930s when factories would establish franchisees in (what was to them) low-value regions. As they grew more valuable, they would move into the region with factory-owned dealerships & start gouging franchisees. Since then, lobbying power has undoubtedly extended dealership power further than what's generally beneficial. But the starting point, it seems to me, made sense. For a fairly balanced (but not up-to-date as far as the status of legal challenges) starting point: http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/tesla-plans-short-circuit-car-dealers-194619627.html http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/tesla-plans-short-cir...
- MichaelApproved 14y ago"But the starting point, it seems to me, made sense." It doesn't make sense to me. This could be handled with contracts, not laws. When signing a franchise with a factory, you stipulate that they can't enter your market or otherwise infringe on your territory by doing ___________. It's a perfectly fine contract clause that unnecessarily turned into a law.
- boredguy8 14y agoIf you can't see why that makes sense, I'm concerned for you. You may disagree that it's the right approach, but to say it's not sensible strains credulity. (As to the idea that individual contractors were well-enough connected with each other to guard against the manufacturer's ability to screw them seems unlikely in 1930...but your foray into anarcho-syndicalism hardly seems the point of this thread, aye?)
- biot 14y ago"We [...] look forward to following through on our commitment to introduce consumers to electric vehicle technology in an open, friendly, no-pressure environment," Elon Musk, Tesla co-founder and CEO, said in the statement. Is it no pressure because they make so few that there's a lineup of people waiting to pay full MSRP?
- boredguy8 14y agoThe way the stores are currently set up (or: at least the one in San Diego), the employees can't sell you a car and they don't make any commission or 'referral bonus' or such. It's literally a car, a partial battery assembly frame, and some logo-ized mugs & shirts. Hence there's literally 0 pressure because nobody there can sell you a car. The gal I spoke with was very well informed (even knew the OS that ran the car's dashboard!) but wasn't even bringing up her own 'talking points' -- she gave me a cursory overview & then answered all of my questions.
- modeless 14y agoDon't keep us in suspense! What OS does the Tesla dashboard run?
- UnoriginalGuy 14y agoLooks like it is Linux with custom bits thrown on top.
- heimidal 14y agoFrom what I can discern (and I'm definitely not a lawyer), the judge is basically saying that only dealerships that would be in direct competition _to sell Teslas_ would have standing to sue. In other words, an existing Tesla dealership could sue, but, say, a BMW dealership cannot. Can anyone verify that's what is going on here? Thanks!
- wildranter 14y agoPlease release us all from all stupid regulations, and let remain the better, faster, and stronger ones.
- jfb 14y agoSeek that rent, car dealers!