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The Franchise Memorandum

Posts from August 2015 - Issue 196.
Posted in Antitrust

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania recently denied in part a motion to dismiss a distributor's claims against a competing manufacturerdistributor for breach of contract and unlawful price discrimination. AlarMax Distributors, Inc. v. Honeywell International, Inc., 2015 WL 3645259 (W.D. Pa. June 9, 2015), involved a wholesale distributor of electronic fire and security products, AlarMax, that purchased its inventory from several companies, including defendant Honeywell. In addition to its manufacturing activities, Honeywell also ...

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As we see in some of the cases summarized above, change tends to leave some former distribution partners or would-be competitors on the outside looking in. It is in these situations when disputes, threats, and even litigation can result. In these same situations, therefore, the manufacturer is best served by having clear documentation in its files, having had legal compliance programs in place, having trained its employees how not to violate antitrust laws and other legal boundaries, and having understood and followed rules relating to pricing, exclusivity, and termination.

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Posted in Antitrust

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the Federal Trade Commission's finding that McWane, Inc. violated Section 5 of the FTC Act when it developed an exclusive dealing program to maintain monopoly power in the domestic fittings market. McWane, Inc. v. FTC, 783 F.3d 814 (11th Cir. Apr. 15, 2015). The FTC initiated the enforcement action against McWane, a manufacturer of iron pipe fittings primarily used by municipal water authorities, for requiring exclusivity from its distributors. After a new manufacturer, Star Pipe Products, entered the ...

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Posted in Contracts

In LightStyles, Ltd. v. Marvin Lumber & Cedar Co., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86954 (M.D. Pa. July 6, 2015), a federal court granted summary judgment in favor of manufacturer Marvin against a distributor, LightStyles, after Marvin terminated the parties' oral distribution agreement of sixteen years. LightStyles brought claims for (1) breach of contract, (2) breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (3) breach of a franchise agreement; (4) breach of fiduciary duty, (5) unjust enrichment, (6) promissory estoppel, and (7) intentional interference with business and ...

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Posted in Damages

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio found that, under Ohio's Alcoholic Beverage Franchise Act, the diminished value of a terminated distributorship agreement includes the fair market value of the franchise contracts (including goodwill), plus any loss in the fair market value of the other tangible or intangible components of the distributorship resulting directly from loss of the brands. Tri County Wholesale Distribs., Inc. v. Labatt USA Operating Co., 2015 U.S. Dist LEXIS 81914 (S.D. Ohio June 24, 2015). Labatt, a successor manufacturer, had ...

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The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently affirmed a decision enforcing a forum selection clause contained in sales invoices that partially governed the relationship between a manufacturer and its local retailer. Carter's of New Bedford, Inc. v. Nike, Inc., 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 10692 (1st Cir. June 24, 2015). The dispute arose when Nike notified Carter's, a clothing and footwear business located in Massachusetts and longtime retailer of Nike products, that it was terminating the parties' relationship. When Carter's brought suit in Massachusetts seeking ...

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Posted in Antitrust

In a case closely followed in the franchising and distribution industries, the proposed merger of national distributors Sysco Corporation and US Foods, Inc. has been blocked. FTC v. Sysco Corp., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83482 (D.D.C. June 23, 2015). Upholding the administrative injunction, the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. agreed with antitrust concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission. Many restaurant chain franchisors and others had been asked to support or refute these concerns as witnesses in the case, due to the close vendor relationships between food ...

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Posted in Antitrust

Finding Apple, Inc. per se liable under the Sherman Antitrust Act, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed a district court's important ruling from 2013 in United States v. Apple, 2015 WL 3953243 (2d Cir. June 30, 2015). The appellate court agreed that Apple orchestrated what became a "horizontal" agreement among nearly all major book publishing companies to fix (and raise) prices of electronic books. Based on this analysis of the situation as horizontal—including the unique role of Apple, a nonpublisher—the court held Apple's conduct to be a per se

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held there was sufficient evidence to support a jury's determination that a manufacturer breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing implied into a dealer agreement. In Tilstra v. BouMatic LLC, 2015 WL 3953403 (7th Cir. June 30, 2015), Tilstra was a dealer of BouMatic dairy equipment, with a particularly lucrative exclusive dealership territory. Under the dealer agreement between the parties, BouMatic had the right to modify the assigned dealership territory "at its sole discretion," but could not terminate ...

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The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, after certifying the issue to the Delaware Supreme Court, has ruled that a supplier's inventory repurchase obligation under Delaware's dealer law is limited to new, unused, undamaged and complete inventory. Southern Track & Pump, Inc. v. Terex Corp., 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 11190 (3d Cir. June 30, 2015). Plaintiff Southern Track terminated its distributorship agreement with Terex after Southern Track had difficulty marketing approximately $4 million worth of construction equipment purchased from Terex. Although Delaware's Equipment Dealer ...

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Posted in Terminations

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed a jury's finding that a manufacturer, CNH America, terminated a dealership agreement without good cause in violation of Wisconsin's Fair Dealership Law, finding that CNH had imposed a market share requirement that discriminated against small dealers. Chili Implement Co. v. CNH Am., LLC, 362 Wis. 2d 540 (Wis. Ct. App. Apr. 30, 2015). CNH, an agricultural equipment manufacturer, granted a dealership to Chili Implement. During the term of their agreement, CNH sent Chili a notice stating, in part, that Chili needed "to meet or exceed 90% of the ...

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A Wisconsin district court granted a distributor's motion for summary judgment finding that the distributor was entitled to the termination protections provided by the Texas Fair Practices of Equipment Manufacturers, Distributors, Wholesalers and Dealers Act (the "FPA") even though no written agreement existed between distributor and manufacturer. Texas UJoints, LLC v. Dana Holding Corp., 2015 WL 3454431 (E.D. Wis. June 1, 2015). In 2012, Texas UJoints, a distributor, acquired the assets of Automotive Industrial Supply Co., Inc. ("AISCO"), a distributor of Dana's ...

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About this Publication

The Franchise Memorandum is a collection of postings on summaries of recent legal developments of interest to franchisors brought to you by Lathrop GPM LLP. 

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