Pat O'Brien Chevrolet Lawsuit Aims to Stop Firment Move to Avon

The plans for Joe Firment Chevrolet to move to Avon may be up in the air after  has sued to stop the move.

Pat O’Brien Chevrolet, located at 25100 Detroit Road in Westlake, filed suit in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas to stop to the intersection of Chester Road and Aspen Lane from its existing site at 4500 Grove Ave. in Lorain.

O’Brien’s suit asserts that the relocation would damage their sales figures and violates an existing General Motors dealership contract condition to prevent regional dealership overcrowding.

The latter was implemented, in part, with a mass GM dealer contract termination in 2009. Hundreds of dealerships were a part of that contraction. The proposed move by Firment to Avon would put O’Brien and Firment a little over six miles apart.

Calls to O’Brien Chevrolet’s Westlake office and to representing attorney Anthony Giardini were not returned.

Another O’Brien attorney, Robert Poklar of Cleveland law firm Weston Hurd, did not wish to comment either, adding “[comments] would be inappropriate, based on where things stand with litigation now.”

A restraining order hearing preventing the Firment move had been set for Tuesday, but had been postponed. Common Pleas Court Judge James Miraldi is said to be hearing the case.

Joyce Buick-GMC continues to be a part of that Chester Road development.

Joyce General Manager Jim Judge said the current litigation has “very little to do” with his dealership or their business moves on a go-forward basis.

“We really have no comment, mostly because it’s a Firment matter,” Judge told Patch.

Asked if the litigation would have an impact on their Chester Rd. timeline or plans for the dealer to relocate next door to the new Firment dealership, Judge said “it should have no bearing whatsoever.”