A lawyer for former GM Canada dealers says the automaker deliberately ambushed and misled them in 2009 when it downsized its retail network.
In his opening remarks, lawyer David Stern told a packed courtroom that GM Canada broke provincial laws when they told the dealers they could only get compensation if all of them agreed to a deal within six days.
Stern said the law in Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Alberta say franchisees must get 14 days notice and complete disclosure.
He said that GM was able to give the required time, but chose to wait until the last possible minute for its own reasons including that it wanted to reduce its dealership size without needing court protection from creditors.
The former dealers are seeking up to $750 million in compensation but the amount would be reduced by money they previously received from GM.
The automaker says former dealers covered by the class action received a total of $123 million for agreeing to shut down by the end of 2009 and that there was no room for negotiation.
"The evidence will show that General Motors achieved this result by ambush, deception and divide and conquer tactics" Stern said.
