Tesla wins direct sale ban case in Massachusetts

As it was mentioned a week and a half ago on Habré, the US Auto Dealers Association is filing lawsuits against Tesla Motors with a demand to ban the sale of cars through its own centers bypassing car dealers.

Until now, the courts of different states met the requirements of the Association, but the Supreme Court of Massachusetts went against the regime: this Monday they ruled in favor of the manufacturer of electric vehicles. The court ruled that the state law introduced to protect car dealers from the pressure of car manufacturers does not give the Association of US Car Dealers and two dealers operating in the state the right to demand that Tesla cease direct sales.

According to Judge Margot Botsford, the law “protects dealers from unfair actions of manufacturers and suppliers of vehicles working with dealers in the same field” and does not affect the actions of third-party manufacturers. The law prohibits the creation by car manufacturers of their own dealerships if Massachusetts already has dealerships working with manufacturers, and Tesla does not have any. Thus, the court recognized Tesla's right to further independent sale of cars in this state.
')
The association accused Tesla of distributing cars through its own dealer complex in Natick, Massachusetts, without a dealer license and in violation of a law prohibiting manufacturers from owning dealerships.

The representative of the Association, Robert O'Konevski, was displeased with the verdict and said that the arguments would be reviewed and the case would be appealed.

Todd Maron, one of Tesla’s chief lawyers, was very pleased with the court’s decision: “Similar laws have been passed in many other states. Right now, similar claims have been filed against us in New Jersey and other states, and now we can hope that this precedent will be taken into account. ”

In March of this year, the New Jersey Automobile Committee in court has already secured the closure of two Tesla sales centers, but in June, the state general assembly submitted a bill that, if adopted, would allow the company to continue operations.

Direct sales of Tesla cars are also currently prohibited in Arizona, Maryland and Texas.

It should be noted that last week the state of Nevada gave the company permission for direct sales in addition to the 1.3 billion USD tax breaks as part of the agreement on the construction of a "gig factory" of batteries.

via reuters