Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 150-S.F.No. 406 
           An act relating to commerce; regulating the 
          distribution and sale of motor vehicles; limiting the 
          granting or relocating of certain franchises; 
          specifying the circumstances to be considered; 
          removing certain regulations on nonrenewals; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 80E.14, subdivisions 
          1 and 2; repealing Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 
          80E.10. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 80E.14, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
    Subdivision 1.  [NOTIFICATION; PROTEST; HEARING.] In the 
event that a manufacturer seeks to enter into a franchise 
establishing an additional new motor vehicle dealership or 
relocating an existing new motor vehicle dealership within or 
into a relevant market area where the line make is then 
represented, the manufacturer shall, in writing, first notify 
each new motor vehicle dealer in this line make in the relevant 
market area of the intention to establish an additional 
dealership or to relocate an existing dealership within or into 
that market area.  The relevant market area is a radius of ten 
miles around an existing dealership.  Within 15 days of 
receiving the notice or within 15 days after the end of any 
appeal procedure provided by the manufacturer, the new motor 
vehicle dealership may commence a civil action in a court of 
competent jurisdiction pursuant to section 80E.17 challenging 
the establishing or relocating of the new motor vehicle 
dealership.  An action brought under this section shall be 
placed on the calendar ahead of other civil actions to be heard 
and determined as expeditiously as possible.  Thereafter the 
manufacturer shall not establish or relocate the proposed new 
motor vehicle dealership unless the court has determined that 
there is good cause for permitting the establishment or 
relocation of the motor vehicle dealership.  
    For the purposes of this section, the reopening in a 
relevant market area of a new motor vehicle dealership within 
two miles of a location at which a former dealership of the same 
line make had been in operation within the previous two years 
shall not be deemed the establishment of a new motor vehicle 
dealership if the reopening is carried out in good faith and 
does not violate the provisions of section 80E.13, paragraph (i).
    The relocation of an existing dealer within its area of 
responsibility as defined in the franchise agreement shall not 
be subject to this section, if the proposed relocation site 
is within five miles of its existing location and is not within 
a radius of five miles of an existing dealer of the same line 
make. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 80E.14, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [GOOD CAUSE.] In determining whether good cause 
has been established for entering into or relocating an 
additional franchise for the same line make, the court shall 
take into consideration the existing circumstances, including, 
but not limited to: 
    (a) The extent, nature, and permanency of the investment of 
the proposed new dealership and the existing motor vehicle 
dealer in the relevant market area; 
    (b) The effect on the retail new motor vehicle business and 
the consuming public in the relevant market area; 
    (c) Whether it is injurious to existing new motor vehicle 
dealers in the relevant market area and the public welfare for 
an additional new motor dealership to be established; 
    (d) Whether the new motor vehicle dealers of the same line 
make in that relevant market area are providing adequate 
competition and convenient consumer care for the motor vehicles 
of the line make in the market area including the adequacy of 
motor vehicle sales and service facilities, equipment, supply of 
motor vehicle parts, and qualified service personnel; 
    (e) Whether the new motor vehicle dealers of the same line 
make in the relevant market area are providing adequate market 
penetration and representation; provided, that good cause shall 
not be shown solely by a desire for further market penetration; 
    (f) Whether the establishment of an additional new motor 
vehicle dealership would increase competition, and therefore be 
in the public interest; and 
    (g) The growth or decline in population and new car 
registrations in the relevant market area;  
    (h) The effect the proposed new dealership would have on 
the provision of stable, adequate, and reliable sales and 
service to purchasers of the same line make in the relevant 
market area; and 
    (i) The effect the proposed new dealership would have on 
the stability of existing franchises of the same line make in 
the relevant market area.  
    Sec. 3.  [REPEALER.] 
    Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 80E.10, is repealed. 
    Approved May 15, 1987