TITLE 28

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS

CHAPTER 24

AGREEMENTS BETWEEN SUPPLIERS AND DEALERS OF FARM EQUIPMENT

PART 1.

AGREEMENTS BETWEEN SUPPLIERS AND DEALERS OF FARM EQUIPMENT

28-24-102.  Definitions. As used in this chapter:

(1)  "Assigned area of responsibility" means the geographic region for which a particular dealer is responsible for the marketing, selling, leasing or servicing of equipment pursuant to a dealer agreement as assigned by the supplier.

(2)  "Continuing commercial relationship" means any relationship in which the equipment dealer has been granted the right to sell or service equipment manufactured by supplier.

(3)  "Dealer agreement" means a contract or agreement, either expressed or implied, whether oral or written, between a supplier and an equipment dealer, by which the equipment dealer is granted the right to sell, distribute or service the supplier’s equipment, where there is a continuing commercial relationship between the supplier and the equipment dealer.

(4)  "Demonstration and/or rental equipment" is equipment that has been used but has not been sold to an end user.

(5)  "Equipment" means machines designed for or adapted and used for agriculture, horticulture, livestock and grazing and related industries but not exclusive to agricultural use. Equipment also includes:

(a)  "All-terrain vehicles" or "ATVs," including three-wheeled and four-wheeled motorized vehicles, generally characterized by large, low-pressure tires, a seat designed to be straddled by the operator, and handlebars for steering. All-terrain vehicles are intended for off-road use.

(b)  "Outdoor power equipment" means equipment powered by a two-cycle or four-cycle gas or diesel engine, or electric motor, which is used to maintain commercial, public or residential lawns and gardens or used in landscape, turf, golf course or plant nursery maintenance.

(c)  "Industrial and construction equipment" means equipment used in building and maintaining structures and roads including, but not limited to, loaders, loader backhoes, wheel loaders, crawlers, graders and excavators.

(6)  "Equipment dealer," "dealer" or "equipment dealership" means any person, partnership, corporation, association or other form of business enterprise, primarily engaged in the retail sale and/or service of equipment in this state, pursuant to any oral or written agreement for a definite or indefinite period of time in which there is a continuing commercial relationship in the marketing of the equipment or related services. "Equipment dealer," "dealer" or "equipment dealership" does not include an individual, partnership or corporation that:

(a)  Is primarily engaged in the retail sale and service of industrial and construction equipment;

(b)  Has purchased seventy-five percent (75%) or more of the dealer’s total new product inventory from a single supplier under all agreements with that supplier; and

(c)  Has a total annual average sales volume in excess of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) for the preceding three (3) years with that single supplier for the territory for which the dealer is responsible.

(7)  "Good cause" means failure by an equipment dealer to substantially comply with essential and reasonable requirements imposed upon the equipment dealer by the dealer agreement, provided, such requirements are not different from those requirements imposed on other similarly situated equipment dealers in the state either by their terms or in the manner of their enforcement.

(8)  "Supplier" means the manufacturer, wholesaler or distributor of the equipment to be sold by the equipment dealer, or any successor in interest to or assignee of the supplier. A successor in interest includes any purchaser of assets or stock, any surviving corporation resulting from merger or liquidation, any receiver or any trustee of the original supplier.

(9)  "Used equipment" means equipment that has been sold or retailed to an end user and money has been exchanged between the end user and the equipment dealer.

(10) "Warranty claim" means a claim for payment submitted by an equipment dealer to a supplier for service, parts or complete components, or any or all of the three (3), provided to a customer under a:

(a)  Warranty issued by the supplier; or

(b)  Recall or modification order issued by the supplier.

History:

[28-24-102, added 1990, ch. 267, sec. 1, p. 751; am. 2005, ch. 238, sec. 6, p. 734; am. 2011, ch. 270, sec. 14, p. 735.]