NH Auto Dealer Bill of Rights Now Law

Submitted by Scott Spradling

Within 24 hours of John Deere’s filing paperwork at the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Breyer rejected Deere’s motion to put the New Hampshire Dealer Bill of Rights law on hold. The law passed in 2013 with overwhelming support from state lawmakers and Gov. Maggie Hassan, but has been held up on appeal until now.

“John Deere has been rebutted by every court ruling so far,” said Pete McNamara, president of the NH Automobile Dealers Association. “Both the NH lower courts and the NH Supreme Court have ruled that the state’s Dealer Bill of Rights is constitutional. The swift rejection by the court yet again shows Deere’s recycled arguments are meritless.”

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Even if John Deere seeks permission from the Court to file an appeal, it is highly unlikely to be granted as the Court accepts only 2 percent of cases.

“Today, in fact, the Court rejected a similar appeal request filed by the other vehicle manufacturers,” according to McNamara. “With this rejection by the top court, the national manufacturers have had their day in court, just as they had their time in front of the general court in Concord. The debate is now over and the law is fully in effect.”

The case that was rejected today was Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers v. Currey which challenged the Connecticut equivalent of the Dealer Bill of Rights.

The “Dealer Bill of Rights” law offers a number of common sense provisions for local business owners, such as requiring “good cause” before ending a dealer’s business, limits forcing dealers to sell their business, limits on mandatory upgrades to facilities, a buy local provision to save on expenses, and proper reimbursement for warranty work done by dealers. The law extends these provisions to construction and farm equipment dealers. These provisions will encourage competition by preventing manufacturers from forcing dealers to drop lines or expend outrageous sums of money on unnecessary upgrades on buildings.

The Court’s rejection of Deere’s motion to stay can be found here: supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docketfiles/15a910.htm.