BLK 6050

Terminated Chrysler dealerships sue U.S. government:

(This is from last week.....hope they win)

Sixty-four dealerships that were terminated during Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy reorganization sued the U.S. Treasury Department on Feb. 17, seeking at least $130 million.
The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims here, alleges the government violated the Constitution by taking the stores' franchises and their state legal rights without adequate compensation.
It contends the Obama administration violated the Fifth Amendment, which says private property shall not "be taken" for public use "without just compensation."
"It has become rather evident that the president's auto task force, as a condition of issuing the bailout funds, directed Chrysler's actions along with the dealer cuts – which have subsequently been determined to be ill-conceived and arbitrarily implemented," said the dealers' attorney, Leonard Bellavia of Mineola, N.Y.
The suit marks a growing backlash against the federal government and its role in the dealer terminations that accompanied the back-to-back bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors. In September, a GM dealership in Mississippi and a Chrysler dealership in Iowa filed a similar suit against the government in the same court.
That complaint, which seeks class-action status on behalf of all terminated GM and Chrysler stores, has been joined by 68 other dealerships, said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Richard Faulkner of Richardson, Texas.
Among the plaintiffs is Painter Sun Country Chrysler of St. George, Utah, owned by Jim Painter.
(FYI:The Painters are the ones that put on the "Mopars at the Strip" show every year in Las Vegas)

[02/23/11]