Lafontaine Saline, Inc v. Chrysler Group LLC

This case concerns whether the 2010 amendment of the Motor Vehicle Dealer Act (MVDA), 1 expanding the relevant market area — the area within which automobile manufacturers are required to notify an existing dealership of the manufacturer’s intent to establish a dealership selling the same line of vehicles as that existing dealership — from a six-mile radius to a nine-mile radius, applies retroactively. We conclude that it does not. The 2010 amendment of the MVDA contains no language suggesting retroactivity, and applying the amendment retroactively would alter the parties’ existing contract…