Thompson Hine has a nationally recognized practice in counseling clients on distribution matters and litigating distribution disputes. We have been listed in Chambers USA as a leading national firm in franchising and distribution, and Tom Zych, the group’s leader, is listed as a leading national lawyer in his practice area. The firm brings deep and broad experience to counseling clients. In the United States, this means taking into account both state law limiting termination of distributors and sales agents and antitrust laws governing vertical restraints and pricing. In foreign countries, we focus on the details of distribution arrangements to make sure distributor and sales agent agreements both accomplish the client’s business objectives and can be enforced in the event of underperformance by the local distributor or agent. We also advise clients on compliance with the requirements of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related laws as they select foreign agents and distributors and prepare agreements for them.
We counsel many manufacturers on distribution issues, not only advising on distributor, dealer and sales agent appointments, realignments and terminations, but also drafting agreements. We have prepared standard form dealer, distributor and agency agreements for domestic and international use. For clients’ foreign distribution of products using distributors or sales agents, we select and work closely with trusted local counsel to customize agreements to the specific jurisdiction.
Four of our lawyers devote a significant part of their practice to distribution counseling or litigation:
Thomas J. Collin
Jennifer S. Roach
Matthew David Ridings
Darcy M. Brosky
Many state statutes limit manufacturers’ exercise of contract rights and, depending upon the jurisdiction and the nature of the business, may require good cause for termination of a distribution relationship, impose inventory repurchase requirements following termination or restrict a manufacturer in negotiating other terms with dealers or distributors. We have counseled clients on termination and realignment of distribution relationships in all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, and we have litigated dealer termination cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States.
Antitrust issues regularly arise in the course of product distribution, and we counsel clients on compliance with the federal antitrust laws, including Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, Section 3 of the Clayton Act and Sections 2(a)-2(e) of the Robinson-Patman Act, and with state antitrust laws. We pay close attention to differences between federal and state antitrust laws and advise clients on policy and enforcement conflicts, including, for example, inconsistent treatment of resale price maintenance under federal and state law. Our lawyers have been active in the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law and have edited ABA publications on antitrust and distribution law, including Antitrust Law and Economics of Product Distribution (2006) and Antitrust Handbook for Franchise and Distribution Practitioners (2008).
We have significant experience managing and coordinating foreign counsel to provide country-specific guidance on distributor and agency relationships. When advising manufacturing clients on the terms of distribution and sales agency agreements and the appointment or termination of distributors and sales agents, we select qualified counsel in each affected country, instruct them on specific issues requiring local input, and supervise their work or introduce them to in-house counsel who work directly with them. Our experience in this area includes analyzing one client’s legal issues affecting distributors or sales agents in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. For another client, the work involved analyzing legal issues and preparing agreements for some 65 countries. In another instance, we advised a client on termination of agency and distribution agreements in Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia and assisted in preparing a standard form of sales agency agreement.
Our distribution work spans the globe. In just the past five years, we have worked on distribution matters either directly or with local counsel in the following countries:
Africa & the Middle East
Asia Pacific
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Europe
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Latin America
North America
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In addition to counseling and drafting agreements, we have deep and broad experience litigating and arbitrating disputes between manufacturers and their distributors, dealers and sales agents, including breach of contract claims and claims based on state franchise and dealer protection statutes. The following is a sample of our work in this area:
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