PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday sent back to the Business and Consumer Court the question of how much the Ford Motor Co. owes Darling’s Ford in damages in a 10-year dispute over a franchise modification.
Damages of nearly $155,000 were awarded in 2014, but that only covered payments from Ford to Darling’s for a 270-day period. The justices unanimously ruled Tuesday that damages should date from April 1, 2005, through the present. That could result in a damage award to Darling’s Ford in the millions.
At the center of the dispute is a requirement in state law that automobile manufacturers notify franchisees by certified letter 90 days before the implementation of a modification that would “substantially and adversely affect the motor vehicle dealer’s rights, obligations, investment or return on investment.”
The court found Ford did not fulfill that requirement in the statute when it replaced a program that paid certain dealers, including Darling’s, a 1.25 percent cash bonus on the retail price of each vehicle the dealer sold.
Efforts to reach attorneys for Ford and Darling’s were unsuccessful Tuesday.
The Maine Automobile Dealers Association appealed the decision along with Darling’s. The organization’s attorney, Bruce Gerrity of Augusta, said Tuesday that the decision is good for Maine dealers.
“This has been a long standing dispute and one of the things that is at the heart of this decision has been Ford’s unwillingness to send certified notice required by statute,” he said. “The law court confirmed that that is a clear unequivocal requirement of statute with which Ford and other manufacturers must comply.”
Gerrity also said that the court’s decision puts manufacturers on notice that Maine’s supreme court would strictly interpret the statute that governs the relationship between dealers and manufacturers.
The justices heard oral arguments in the appeal in September 2015.