AEM joined leading trade associations in filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, urging the high court to take up a challenge to a troublesome dealer law in New Hampshire.
AEM joined the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and other groups in the brief on behalf of Deere & Company, CNH America and AGCO Corporation, which are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments to overturn the New Hampshire state supreme court’s ruling upholding a restrictive dealer law.
New Hampshire in 2013 expanded dealer laws related to auto manufacturers to also cover the manufacturer-dealer relationship for many types of farm, construction and industrial equipment. The law in essence rewrote the contractual relationships between AEM member companies and their dealers in New Hampshire after the fact. A good summary of the changes wrought by the New Hampshire law can be found here.
AEM members had challenged the law in state courts, but the law was ultimately upheld by New Hampshire’s supreme court. Deere, CNH and AGCO are now seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the law, with AEM and NAM’s support.
The brief argues that the New Hampshire law unconstitutionally interfered with existing manufacturer-dealer contracts in violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, among other arguments.
The petition for the Supreme Court to review the New Hampshire law is known as a writ of certiorari. For the Supreme Court to grant such a writ, four of its members must vote to hear a case.
For more information, please contact Nick Yaksich, AEM senior vice president and head of AEM’s DC office (nyaksich@aem.org, tel: 202-898-9064).
