Title 59.1. Trade and Commerce
Chapter 28. Heavy Equipment Dealer Act
§ 59.1-354. Cancellation.
A. Notwithstanding the terms, provisions or conditions of any agreement, no supplier shall unilaterally amend, cancel, terminate or refuse to continue to renew any agreement, or unilaterally cause a dealer to resign from an agreement, unless the supplier has first complied with the provisions of § 59.1-355, and good cause exists for amendment, termination, cancellation, nonrenewal, noncontinuance or causing a resignation. "Good cause" shall not include the sale or purchase of a supplier. "Good cause" shall be limited to withdrawal by the supplier, its successors and assigns, of the sale of its products in Virginia, or dealer performance deficiencies including, but not limited to, the following:
1. Bankruptcy or receivership of the dealer;
2. Assignment for the benefit of creditors or similar disposition of the assets of the dealer, other than the creation of a security interest in the assets of a dealer for the purpose of securing financing in the ordinary course of business; or
3. Failure by the dealer to substantially comply, without reasonable cause or justification, with any reasonable and material requirement imposed upon him in writing by the supplier including, but not limited to, a substantial failure by a dealer to (i) maintain a sales volume or trend of his supplier's product line or lines comparable to that of other similarly situated dealers of that product line, or (ii) render services comparable in quality, quantity or volume to the services rendered by other dealers of the same product or product line similarly situated.
In any determination as to whether a dealer has failed to substantially comply, without reasonable excuse or justification, with any reasonable and material requirement imposed upon him by the supplier, consideration shall be given to the relative size, population, geographical location, number of retail outlets and demand for the products applicable to the market area of the dealer in question and to comparable market area.
B. No supplier shall be required to give notice or show good cause pursuant to subsection A of this section to unilaterally amend agreements with dealers to comply with federal or state law or, where not inconsistent with this chapter, to uniformly amend agreements as to all dealers of the supplier in question in all states in which the supplier is marketing its products.
C. In any dispute as to whether a supplier has acted with good cause as required by this section the supplier shall have the burden of proof to establish that good cause existed.
1988, c. 73.
