Arbitration Update: Chrysler 3, Dealers 1

WASHINGTON - A rejected Chrysler Group dealership in Florida became the first to win an arbitration case today, while two other stores in the same state lost, Automotive News reported.

The three arbitrations, held simultaneously in Orlando on April 20-23, bring to four the number of decisions that have been handed down. A rejected Chrysler dealer in Ohio lost last week in the first of hundreds of cases due to be heard by mid-July.

Deland Dodge won reinstatement today, while Chrysler prevailed in arbitration against Bob Taylor Jeep in Naples and Venice Dodge, said the attorney for all three dealerships, Mark Orenstein.

“We're very happy Deland won and very upset the other two lost,” Orenstein, of Orlando, said in an interview. “After reading the arbitrator's decisions, I still don't think I have a clear impression of the exact reasons she ruled for Deland and did not rule for Venice and Bob Taylor.”

The arbitrator, retired Florida state judge Amy Dean, wrote three decisions of about 1½ pages each, Orenstein said.

The cases today were the first in which the dealerships were represented by an attorney. Joe Kidd Dodge in Cincinnati represented itself in an April 14 hearing before losing its reinstatement bid last week.

Chrysler expressed disappointment today about losing the arbitration to Deland Dodge.

“This decision undermines the federal Bankruptcy Court order that affirmed the rationalization process used to reject this dealership agreement,” the company said in a statement.

The automaker said it would issue a letter of intent to Deland, as required under the federal law that set up the arbitration process for rejected Chrysler and General Motors Co. dealerships.

At the same time, Chrysler praised the decision upholding its terminations of Bob Taylor Jeep and Venice Dodge.

“The company not only employed sound business judgment but is acting in the greater public interest by protecting the dealer network that was created as a result of the bankruptcy proceedings,” its statement said.

All three Florida dealerships had a single Chrysler brand when they were closed as part of the company's bankruptcy almost a year ago.