Chrysler Cleared to Kibosh Dealerships

Tim Cavanaugh | June 9, 2009

A bankruptcy judge says Chrysler can close 789 franchises around the United States, U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez has ruled. These dealerships will be immediately barred from acting as authorized Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers.

Further down in the same story, Fiat seems to undermine Chrysler's claim that the urgency of closing its pending deal with Fiat by June 15 is such that the pension funds' lawsuit against Chrysler must be dismissed.

Update: The Supreme Court throws out the pension funds' claim.

Comments

|6.9.09 @ 5:58PM|#

I read (I think in the WSJ, but maybe somewhere else) that the overwhelming majority of the dealerships being forced to close are the ones owned by people that have given money and support to the Republican Party.

|6.9.09 @ 6:17PM|#

Paying off unsecured creditors before secured creditors turns the whole bankruptcy system on its head. In the future who gets paid will depend on your DC connections. All hail the rule of law!

|6.9.09 @ 6:24PM|#

This is fine. Ending dealership contracts seems like an appropriate thing for a bankruptcy court to do.

Not buying the conspiracy theories. If the Republicans jump on this one, the are making a mistake.

The real problem is the treatment of secured creditors relative to the union. There's nothing illegal about shutting down dealers.

Mister DNA|6.9.09 @ 6:30PM|#

The alliteration would work better if you changed "dealerships" to "car lots".

oat willie|6.9.09 @ 6:44PM|#

And so it begins, the car wars, have begun.

|6.9.09 @ 7:19PM|#

How, exactly, does barring existing dealerships from selling Chrysler cars help Chrysler with its financial prospects? Seems like they'd want more dealers selling Chrysler cars, not fewer. Unless they plan to turn around and resell those dealership licenses to new dealers or something.

zoltan|6.9.09 @ 7:54PM|#

I read (I think in the WSJ, but maybe somewhere else) that the overwhelming majority of the dealerships being forced to close are the ones owned by people that have given money and support to the Republican Party.


Maybe now these people will learn not to donate money or vote for the Republicans who did vote for car industry bailouts and the first round of bailouts (you know, back when it was okay because George W. Bush wanted it to happen and John McCain was going to stop his campaign to make it happen!)

Syd|6.9.09 @ 9:40PM|#

Enough About Palin | June 9, 2009, 5:58pm | #
I read (I think in the WSJ, but maybe somewhere else) that the overwhelming majority of the dealerships being forced to close are the ones owned by people that have given money and support to the Republican Party.

That's because the overwhelming majority of dealerships are owned by Republicans.

|6.10.09 @ 2:29AM|#

And so it begins, the car wars, have begun.

If you must quote the Newfangled Trilogy, please do so correctly.

"Begun, these car wars have."

Now excuse me while I go cleanse myself with this miracle elixer.

strat|6.10.09 @ 4:27AM|#

I've been working on a business plan to get paid by the government to not grow tobacco or corn. I can't figure out what not to plant first in the soil in my area, so my plan has been stalled.

This recent development gives me hope!

Do you think I could get money from Uncle Sam to not sell cars?

hmm|6.10.09 @ 12:24PM|#

Most dealerships are owned by republicans so the question would be are the closures proportional, not are more of one kind closed.

Riding the nightmare train of a bailout. They gave your money, again, to a company that can't compete, they then turned around and sold it at a bargain rate to a foreign interest that makes shit that won't sell in the US, they gave what is left to people that helped run the company into the ground, hundreds of years of contract law are being butchered to ensure no one makes enough money, and to ice this shit cake we have butchered years of bankruptcy law in favor of the people that helped to ruin their company.

It's a fucking win win I don't see how anyone can complain.

|6.12.09 @ 12:24PM|#

Guess I won't be buying that PT Cruiser after all. Oh, well; I suppose I can just go buy one of those Chevrolet HHRs instea... D'OH!