Terminated Riverhead Chrysler dealership sues carmaker
Mark Calisi, owner of Eagle Auto Mall in Riverhead, in front of Jeep Chyslers. (June 29, 2010) Credit: James Carbone
A Riverhead auto dealer this week sued Chrysler, seeking the right to restore a dealership the carmaker terminated during its bankruptcy reorganization.
Eagle Auto Mall Corp. filed suit against Chrysler Group Llc Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, along with three other rejected dealers.
Mark Calisi, owner of Eagle, said Chrysler failed to follow the directives of binding arbitration earlier this year that called for the carmaker to provide Eagle with a "customary and usual" preliminary deal to renew the dealership. Instead Chrysler supplied "an unreasonable and unconscionable" offer, Calisi said in his complaint.
"We felt we weren't going to stand for this," Calisi said in an interview Thursday.
Chrysler spokesman Michael Palese said in an e-mail statement Thursday that the company will not comment on specific matters in litigation. He added, "Chrysler Group Llc has complied fully with the letter and intent of the federal dealer arbitration statute."
The corporation's financial success depends on its effort to marshal a unified network of dealerships exclusively selling Chrysler-made cars, Palese said.
According to the arbitrator's report included with court documents, Chrysler said it believes it needs "fewer, high performing dealers that sell Chrysler brand vehicles from well located, exclusive and attractively branded facilities."
By contrast, Calisi sold Chryslers side by side with Mazda, Volvo, General Motors and Kia cars in an "auto mall" setting, resulting in a Chrysler sales performance that was "mediocre," Chrysler alleged, according to the documents.
Calisi says Chrysler's proposal after arbitration was improper in part because it made extraordinary demands including construction of a new building. Also, he countered, his performance was strong - his company sold more than 400 Chrysler "products" a year, including Jeeps, he said.
According to the arbitrator's report, "Chrysler claims that the principal owner was an unprofessional and vitriolic businessman who had broken various contractual obligations and Chrysler policies" during a prior 12-year dealership agreement.
Without Eagle, the closest Chrysler dealers to Riverhead are Mullen Motors in Southold on the North Fork and Storms Motors in Southampton on the South Fork, each about 15 miles away; Port Jeff Chrysler Jeep on the North Shore, and Brown's Jeep Chrysler Dodge in Patchogue on the South Shore, each about 22 miles away.
The other three dealerships that are part of the suit are in Oklahoma, Massachusetts and upstate New York.
