Jacob Antwerpen was busy yesterday hobnobbing with other auto officials at the grand opening of his Toyota store in Clarksville. He would like to be doing the same at his adjacent Dodge dealership.
But the recently built Dodge showroom, which is connected to the Toyota outlet, sits empty except for a half-dozen potted plants, some still in their plastic wrappers.
A Circuit Court injunction, granted after a competing Dodge dealer doing business seven miles away alleged in a $20 million suit that a rival dealership in Clarksville would be both illegal and financially devastating, has kept the new Dodge showroom empty and silent.
Among other things, Herb Gordon Dodge says in its July 1996 suit against Chrysler Corp. that the action breaches Chrysler's fiduciary duty as a business partner and breaks a Maryland law designed to protect existing auto dealers.
Says Antwerpen of the legal mess: "It's a nightmare."
In its filing with the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Herb Gordon Dodge said Chrysler's decision threatens approximately 40 percent of its net income. It could hurt the value of the dealership and cause the loss of experienced workers if the Silver Spring dealership had to reduce the size of its work force.
Herb Gordon Dodge says it has invested millions of dollars over the past decade on equipment and for advertising and renovations to its store to attract car buyers from the Burtonsville, Clarksville and Columbia areas.
The lawsuit alleges that Chrysler's action also violates a Maryland law, which became effective in October, to protect new-car franchise owners from auto manufac- turers eager to boost new-vehicle sales.
Joseph P. Carroll, president of the Maryland New Car and Truck Association, the trade association that pushed for the bill, explained that legislation "in very general language says that if a manufacturer does something that causes an existing dealership to suffer substantial financial hardship, the dealership has the right to take action against the manufacturer."
Carroll said the legislation was designed to protect dealers from moves, made by nearly all new-car manufacturers, to reduce their numbers of dealerships in the United States.
"How this law is applied by the courts will affect future activity by manufacturers in Maryland," he said.
Antwerpen has filed suit against Herb Gordon Dodge to dissolve the injunction. The move was denied by the Circuit Count, and Antwerpen and Chrysler have appealed to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
Thomas Gordon, president of Herb Gordon Auto World, which includes the Dodge dealership declined to discuss the lawsuit.
Stanford D. Hess, a lawyer representing Antwerpen, said the "position of Herb Gordon [Dodge] and the new-car dealer association is anti-competitive and detrimental to the best interest of consumers."
Chrysler's zone manager, William Moore, said the automaker had no comment while the case was in litigation.
Antwerpen bought the former Toyota Village in 1988. The roots of Toyota Village go back to the late 1960s, when it was called George's Auto Sales and was the first Toyota retailer in Maryland.
Antwerpen declined to discuss plans for the vacant Dodge showroom.
He said vehicle sales at the new Toyota store, at the intersection of Routes 8 and 32, are running 80 percent ahead of the pace at the old store, less than half a mile away.
Pub Date: 7/10/97
