The Indiana Supreme Court is going to decide whether a Toyota dealership can relocate from Anderson to Fishers over the objections of three existing greater Indianapolis Toyota dealers.
Andy Mohr Toyota, Butler Toyota and Tom Wood Toyota asked the Auto Dealer Services Division of the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office to find the proposed relocation was without good cause, which would have blocked the move. But the division denied their requests, ruling that because the dealerships were outside the 6-mile market area where the dealership would relocate, they lacked standing for a challenge under state law.
Anderson-based Ed Martin Toyota sought to relocate to Fishers.
The dealerships appealed to a Marion Superior Court that affirmed the division’s ruling, but in a 2-1 ruling in August, a majority of the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed and sent the matter back to the division for a do-over. The judges wrangled with interpreting the Indiana Dealer Services statutes as a matter of first impression on whether the proposed entry into the market constituted a proposed dealership or a relocation, each of which is addressed in Indiana Code.
The case is Andy Mohr West, Inc. d/b/a Andy Mohr Toyota, Butler Motors, Inc. d/b/a Butler Toyota, and TW Toy, Inc. d/b/a Tom Wood Toyota v. Office of the Ind. Sec. of State, Auto Dealer Services Div. et al, 49S02-1511-PL-668.
