The United States district court in Atlanta has denied a motion for class certification in a lawsuit against Indian automobile manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). The lawsuit was filed by US automobile dealers against the Indian company.

“The court concluded that a number of factual and legal issues regarding dealer claims must be resolved on a case-by-case basis, and that this case was inappropriate for class certification,” M&M said in a statement.

The order was issued on March 14, denying the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, it added.

The plaintiffs in Ackerman versus M&M took legal action against M&M based on agreements they had made with Global Vehicles USA, a former distributor for the company.

The plaintiffs sought to represent all dealers who entered into agreements with Global Vehicles to sell Mahindra vehicles in the US.

Under ‘class certification’, the group of dealers would have the right to sue M&M jointly.

“This order is a significant achievement for Mahindra in its defense of these claims as these claims can now proceed in litigation only on an individual basis. Mahindra is pleased with this result, and remains convinced that the dealer claims brought against it in this and other suits have no merit,” the company added.

M&M and Global Vehicles had entered into an agreement on September 28, 2006. Under the agreement, the latter became the sole distributor of the Indian company's motor vehicles in the US.

The auto major had planned to enter the utility vehicles market in the US around 2008-09 but ran into problems. Global Vehicles had dragged it to court over delay in launch of pick-up trucks.

In June 2012, a group of automobile dealers in the US had filed a lawsuit accusing the Indian company of fraud, misrepresentation and conspiracy. M&M had denied all the allegations.

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