Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 123.djvu/3240

 123STA T . 322 0PUBLIC LA W 111 – 11 7—DE C.1 6, 200 9ti t leIof t h e Em e rg e ncy Economic S t ab ili z ation A ct of 20 0 8; or (B) ana u tomobile manufacturer w hich ac q uire d more than half of the a s sets of an automobile manufacturer in which the U nited States G o v ernment has an ownershi p interest , or to which the Government has provided financial assistance under title I of the Emergency Economic Sta - bilization Act of 2008 . (2) T he term ‘ ‘covered dealership ’ ’ means an automobile dealership that had a franchise agreement for the sale and service of vehicles of a brand or brands with a covered manufac- turer in effect as of O ctober 3, 2008, and such agreement was terminated, not assigned in the form e x isting on October 3, 2008 to another covered manufacturer in connection with an acquisition of assets related to the manufacture of that vehicle brand or brands, not renewed, or not continued during the period beginning on October 3, 2008, and ending on D ecember 3 1, 2010. (b) A covered dealership that was not lawfully terminated under applicable State law on or before April 2 9, 2009, shall have the right to see k , through binding arbitration, continuation, or reinstatement of a franchise agreement, or to be added as a franchisee to the dealer network of the covered manufacturer in the geographical area where the covered dealership was located when its franchise agreement was terminated, not assigned, not renewed, or not continued. Such continuation, reinstatement, or addition shall be limited to each brand owned and manufactured by the covered manufacturer at the time the arbitration commences, to the extent that the covered dealership had been a dealer for such brand at the time such dealer’s franchise agreement was terminated, not assigned, not renewed, or not continued. (c) Before the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, a covered manufacturer shall provide to each covered dealership related to such covered manufacturer a summary of the terms and the rights accorded under this section to a covered dealership and the specific criteria pursuant to which such dealer was terminated, was not renewed, or was not assumed and assigned to a covered manufacturer. (d) A covered dealership may elect to pursue the right to binding arbitration with the appropriate covered manufacturer. Such election must occur within 4 0 days of the date of enactment. The arbitration process must commence as soon as practicable thereafter with the selection of the arbitrator and conclude with the case being submitted to the arbitrator for deliberation within 180 days of the date of enactment of this Act. The arbitrator may extend the time periods in this subsection for up to 30 days for good cause. The covered manufacturer and the covered dealer- ship may present any relevant information during the arbitration. The arbitrator shall balance the economic interest of the covered dealership, the economic interest of the covered manufacturer, and the economic interest of the public at large and shall decide, based on that balancing, whether or not the covered dealership should be added to the dealer network of the covered manufacturer. The factors considered by the arbitrator shall include (1) the covered dealership’s profitability in 200 6, 200 7 , 2008, and 2009, (2) the Deadlin e s. Deadline.