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Seacoast Motors of Salisbury, Inc. v. Daimlerchrysler Motors Corp.

Even if car dealership's suit contesting manufacturer's approval of competing dealership could be classified as antitrust claim, dispute remained arbitrable in light of parties' contractual arbitration clause; formally rejecting the American Safety doctrine.

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APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Nancy Gertner, U.S. District Judge]

This case has its origin in a law suit against the auto manufacturer DaimlerChrysler Motors Corporation (“DaimlerChrysler”) by Seacoast Motors of Salisbury (“Seacoast”), one of its dealers. Seacoast claims that DaimlerChrysler’s decision to authorize a new competing dealer near Salisbury was an arbitrary and unfair trade practice under Mass. Gen. Laws. ch. 93B, � 4(3)(l) (West 1997). The district court dismissed Seacoast’s suit and ordered arbitration pursuant to a clause in Seacoast’s dealership agreement that, both sides concede, covered the claim. Seacoast Motors of Salisbury, Inc. v. Chrysler Corp., 959 F. Supp. 52, 56 (D. Mass. 1997).

Seacoast appealed to this court, arguing that its chapter 93B claim sounded in antitrust and was thus not arbitrable under the so-called American Safety doctrine. See Am. Safety Equip. Corp. v. J.P. Maguire & Co., 391 F.2d 821, 827-28 (2d Cir. 1968). This court, on a ground later rejected by the Supreme Court in another case, Green Tree Fin. Corp. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79, 88-89 (2000), held that it lacked jurisdiction over Seacoast’s appeal because the arbitrability decision was “embedded” in the underlying substantive dispute and thus interlocutory. Seacoast, 143 F.3d 626, 628-29 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 965 (1998).

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