Automotive Dealer Law

DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. – Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group

For more than four decades, DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. has represented automotive and powersports dealers, their owners, and their related businesses in high-stakes litigation and transactions. Our Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group serves large regional and national dealership groups, franchise dealers for major manufacturers, independent used-car dealerships (including stores focused on high-end and luxury vehicles), and related businesses such as RV, boat, motorcycle, snowmobile and ATV dealers, and airplane dealers.

Because our lawyers routinely represent both plaintiffs and defendants in dealer and consumer-fraud litigation, we understand the pressures on your business from every angle.

Comprehensive Legal Services for Dealerships

Our Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group handles the full spectrum of issues that dealerships face, including:

• Ownership, shareholder, and LLC member disputes, including derivative and breach-of-fiduciary-duty litigation among family members and other owners of dealerships.
• Consumer fraud, lemon law, and warranty litigation—both prosecuting and defending claims, including major individual and class actions.
• Responding to and defending against Illinois Attorney General and other regulatory consumer-fraud investigations.
• Dealership transactions, including the purchase and sale of dealerships and related entities, and the structuring of operating and ownership agreements.
• Drafting and updating consumer-facing agreements and disclosures to reduce exposure to individual and class action fraud, lemon law, breach of warranty, and consumer fraud claims.
• Ongoing compliance and risk management for auto, RV, motorcycle, snowmobile, ATV, boat, and airplane dealers.

A Team Focused on Dealers and Their Owners

Peter S. Lubin has spent more than 40 years litigating on behalf of car dealers, RV and boat dealers, and airplane dealers, as well as consumers and investors. His experience ranges from individual dealer disputes to “bet-the-company” class actions involving very large amounts in claimed damages.

James V. DiTommaso leads the firm’s Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group. He represents large, multi-store and billion-dollar dealership groups along with many independent used-car dealers, including dealers whose business model focuses on high-end luxury vehicles. He defends and prosecutes claims for dealers, guides clients through Illinois Attorney General consumer-fraud investigations, and assists dealer clients in acquiring and selling dealerships and drafting consumer-facing agreements designed to withstand scrutiny in court and by regulators.

Working with our network of of-counsel attorneys, Lubin and DiTommaso provide dealers with a single team that can handle the full life cycle of disputes and transactions.

Shareholder, LLC Member, and Family-Owned Dealership Disputes

Many dealerships are closely held or family-owned. When relationships among owners break down, the business itself can be put at risk. We prosecute and defend shareholder and LLC-member disputes among family members and other owners of dealerships in derivative and breach-of-fiduciary-duty litigation. We also handle “business divorce,” squeeze-out, and freeze-out cases in closely held dealer groups.

Our lawyers regularly seek and defend against emergency injunctions to preserve control of the dealership, protect floor-plan and manufacturer relationships, and prevent diversion or dissipation of dealership assets during litigation.

Consumer Fraud, Lemon Law, and Warranty Litigation – Plaintiff and Defense

Few firms bring the same perspective to dealer-side consumer litigation that we do. DiTommaso Lubin has long prosecuted auto-fraud, lemon-law, and other consumer-fraud cases on behalf of individual consumers and classes, including cases involving certified used cars, flood vehicles, rebuilt wrecks, and other serious dealer misconduct. We have tried consumer-fraud and auto-fraud cases to verdict, including punitive-damage and emotional-distress awards, and litigated major non-automotive consumer-fraud class actions through trial and appeal in matters where claimed damages reached into the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

We have also litigated numerous lemon-law, Magnuson-Moss warranty, and breach-of-warranty claims both for consumers and for dealers and manufacturers. That history gives our Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group a unique vantage point when we are defending dealers in individual consumer-fraud, lemon-law, and warranty suits; class actions; and claims under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and other state and federal consumer-protection statutes.

Regulatory and Attorney General Investigations

Dealers increasingly face scrutiny from state attorneys general, particularly in Illinois, for alleged unfair or deceptive practices. Our lawyers defend businesses in consumer-fraud investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Illinois Attorney General, from the first inquiry or subpoena through negotiation, settlement, or litigation. We help dealers respond strategically to Civil Investigative Demands and subpoenas, coordinate document preservation and internal investigations, and seek resolutions that minimize disruption to ongoing operations and reduce the risk of parallel civil litigation.

Dealership Transactions and Consumer Agreement Drafting

James DiTommaso and our automotive dealer team assist dealers with significant transactions, including the acquisition and sale of new- and used-car dealerships and related entities. We work with your accountants and brokers to structure deals and protect your interests in purchase agreements, operating agreements, and shareholder or member agreements.

On the compliance side, we draft and refine consumer-facing documents such as retail installment sales contracts and lease agreements, buyer’s orders and as-is disclosures, service-contract and extended-warranty forms, arbitration and class-action waivers where permitted by law, and add-on product disclosures and consent forms. Our goal is to align your day-to-day documents with current law and with the realities of litigation, reducing the risk of individual suits, class actions, and regulatory enforcement while preserving a fair and transparent customer experience.

Why Automotive Dealers Turn to DiTommaso Lubin

Dealers choose our Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group because we offer deep industry knowledge from decades of representing dealers, dealer principals, and consumers in automotive and RV/boat/motorcycle fraud cases; experience on both sides of consumer and class-action litigation; a track record of handling shareholder, LLC, and family-business disputes involving dealership ownership and control; and boutique-firm responsiveness backed by the resources to litigate high-stakes cases to verdict or through appeal.

Talk With Our Automotive Dealer Law Practice Group

To discuss a dealership dispute, regulatory issue, lemon-law matter, or major transaction, contact attorney Peter S. Lubin or attorney James V. DiTommaso for a free consultation.

Call 630-333-0333 or reach us through our online contact form.

This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.