Freightliner Corp. v. Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Transportation

In this direct appeal, we consider whether an agency can, on remand after courts have considered and affirmed the agency’s decision in part, revisit an issue affirmed by the courts and reverse the original result based on the same record. Based on the procedural history of this case, we conclude that the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Transportation did not have the power on remand to revisit its original determination that Ford Motor Company had good cause to terminate Metro Ford Truck Sales, Inc.’s truck dealer’s franchise. We reverse the Board’s order entered after remand in which the Board found that Ford did not have good cause to terminate Metro’s franchise. We remand for any necessary proceedings that follow the determination that a manufacturer has good cause to terminate its truck dealer’s franchise.

Ford first tried to terminate Metro’s truck franchise more than a decade ago.*fn1 In 1993, complaints by competing dealers prompted Ford to investigate Metro’s administration of Ford’s Competitive Price Assistance (“CPA”) program. Discovering what it believed to be improprieties, Ford sought to terminate Metro’s franchise to sell Ford trucks. Metro filed a protest, triggering a proceeding before the Board to determine whether Ford had good cause to terminate the franchise. See Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 2301.453 (West 2004).*fn2 The filing of the protest prompted the entry of a statutory stay that prevented the parties from committing any act or omission that would affect a legal right, duty, or privilege of any party before the Board. Id. § 2301.803 (West 2004).