Arbitration, Facilitation and Mediation for Dealer and Franchise Disputes
DRAFT – not published. This article is a working draft for review.
Dealer and franchise disputes rarely turn on the contract alone. They turn on years of relationship, performance standards, territory, financing and the business reality on both sides of the table. The neutral handling them should know how that relationship actually works.
Background
My years with Mercedes-Benz, including at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and as General Counsel of Mercedes-Benz USA, required me to manage franchise relationships every day: dealer agreements, dealer financing, performance and network issues, and the disputes that come with them. I later served as SVP, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Federal-Mogul Powertrain, as SVP Legal and General Counsel at Tenneco, and as EVP & Global General Counsel of Sotheby's. I'm a Michigan-licensed attorney.
Services
DeSanto Arbitration offers arbitration, facilitation and mediation for dealer and franchise disputes.
DeSanto Arbitration can manage fully remote arbitration, facilitation and mediation sessions and hearings, scheduled around the parties' calendars, so disputes move without travel costs or long waits for a hearing date.
Disputes covered
- Dealer and franchise terminations and non-renewals
- Franchise relationship disputes, including performance standards, territory and transfers
- Contract claims between manufacturers, dealers and franchisees
- Dealer financing and floor-plan disputes
Why it's different
I've seen these relationships from the inside, including what each side needs, where agreements break down, and which issues really drive the dispute. I also put agentic AI to full use on administration and processing, so matters move faster and cleaner, and contract claims can reach a practical, pragmatic resolution quickly. How that applies to your dispute is the conversation worth having.
Contact
If you represent a dealer, franchisee, franchisor or manufacturer, or you're drafting the dispute-resolution clause that will govern the relationship, I'd welcome a confidential conversation.
This article is general information only and is not legal advice.