Tire Industry Experts Discuss Alleged Breach of Exclusive Distribution Agreement

ByJoseph O'Neill

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Updated onJanuary 6, 2022

Tire Industry Experts Discuss Alleged Breach of Exclusive Distribution Agreement

This case involve a dispute between a domestic tire distributor in Minnesota and its Canadian competitor. The two parties had an exclusive distributorship agreement whereby the domestic company distributed a particular brand of tire for the Canadian company. It was alleged that the Canadian company breached the exclusive distributorship. As a result, both companies have filed a lawsuit and countersuit against one another.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Please describe your experience in the tire distribution industry.

2. How prevalent are exclusive distributorship agreements in this market?

3. What restrictions do these agreements typically feature?

Expert Witness Response E-083053

inline imageI have over 40 years of experience in the automotive industry, including 11 years in senior executive roles with a major tire manufacturer. From 2003 until 2012, I was the SVP of Purchasing for that company. I am very familiar with exclusive distributorship agreements and the problems they cause when businesses don't abide by them. I have dealt with these disputes in my prior roles - I can recall situations where we would enter an agreement with a distributor who then sold the rights to another distributor, for example. I am knowledgeable of the reasons why a firm would enter an exclusive agreement and the possible pitfalls that come from such relationships. I am also absolutely familiar with the economics, including payment terms, discounts, volume rebates, and signing bonuses. There are also accounting rules that have to be followed when tracking these deals.

About the author

Joseph O'Neill

Joseph O'Neill

Joe has extensive experience in online journalism and technical writing across a range of legal topics, including personal injury, meidcal malpractice, mass torts, consumer litigation, commercial litigation, and more. Joe spent close to six years working at Expert Institute, finishing up his role here as Director of Marketing. He has considerable knowledge across an array of legal topics pertaining to expert witnesses. Currently, Joe servces as Owner and Demand Generation Consultant at LightSail Consulting.

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