Ford Motor Co. is suing a former executive who was hired to become president of one of the nation's largest Toyota distributors.
Ford filed suit Nov. 10 against Martin E. Collins, an executive who was general sales manager for Ford and Lincoln at the company's world headquarters in Dearborn. The lawsuit says he can't take the new job because of a non-compete agreement he signed, according to The Detroit News.
Collins told Ford on Oct. 13 that he plans to go to work for Gulf States Toyota — a Houston-based distributor of Toyota vehicles in five states — as president.
Collins was hired in March by Ford, and went to work for the carmaker May 2. He managed the entire dealer distribution network for Ford and Lincoln, and provided "ongoing feedback to senior Ford management regarding sales performance, sales trends and progress toward program and budget goals," the lawsuit says. He also approved major market representation packages, including dealer replacements according to the suit, filed in Wayne Circuit Court and since moved to U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Collins agreed to a confidential information/non-compete agreement when he went to work for Ford, according to the lawsuit. The agreement stipulated that he not work for a competitor for two years.
Collins was paid an annual salary of $400,000 by Ford with a signing bonus of $900,000. He also received an initial restricted stock grant of shares valued at $1.5 million that was to vest over three years. He had a guaranteed bonus of $123,000 for the first year of work, and a guaranteed $127,000 stock award for the first year.
Collins told Ford he had not acquired any confidential information during his tenure at the company, something Ford described as "incredible" and "patently false."
Ford executives told Collins if he stayed at Ford he would be assigned to a new but fully comparable position at his current pay.
Gulf States Toyota told Ford on Oct. 19 that it still planned to hire Collins and would "take as long as it takes" to do so.
On Oct. 24, Collins met with his new supervisor, Jim Farley, who is Ford's group vice president for global marketing, sales and service. Collins told Farley he would give the new position of director of global market representation "150 percent" effort, according to the lawsuit. He began working in the new job and then resigned Nov. 1.
On Nov. 2, Ford told Gulf States Toyota that it planned to enforce its non-compete agreement. A lawyer for Gulf States Toyota, William John Bux, responded Nov. 3 by telling Ford it would not violate the non-compete agreement.
Gulf States Toyota is a wholly owned subsidiary of Friedkin Group Inc. On Nov. 7, Bux told Ford that Collins was being hired as a vice president at Friedkin Group.
Ford questions the move, and notes that the chairman and CEO of Friedkin Group, T. Dan Friedkin, also is chairman and CEO of Gulf States Toyota. "Ford believes that Collins' purported employment as vice president of Friedkin is a sham and is in fact the equivalent executive-level employment with GST," the lawsuit says.
Gulf States Toyota works with more than 150 Toyota dealers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Ford spokeswoman Karen Hampton said the company's suit was aimed at preventing Collins from working at Gulf States Toyota and Friedkin until May 2013.
Collins' lawyer, David Hardesty, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. Gulf States Toyota and Friedkin also weren't immediately available for comment.
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