Louisiana’s Attorney General, Jeff Landry, has added more to the fire as a federal lawsuit continues to work its way through the court system between Tesla and the Louisiana car dealers.
According to nola.com, the lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in August, sees Tesla arguing that Louisiana law:
effectively shuts out of Louisiana the consumer-centric, free-market solution that is a more efficient, consumer friendly business model for today’s automotive consumer.
Furthermore, Tesla alleges collusion between the state’s trade body and the regulatory commission.
The lawsuit alleges:
Tesla has uncovered communications between the dealers association’s members and the commission evidencing a common purpose to exclude Tesla from operating in Louisiana.
Tesla has long wanted to sell directly to consumers in the state, but the archaic dealership rules that were last updated in 2017 prevent direct sales.
However, in an interesting move, the Attorney General stepped into the case and filed his own brief.
As per the filing, the Attorney General is seeking to intervene as the lawsuit does not provide the state with an opportunity to defend the state law.
In his filing, Landry noted:
Conspicuously unnamed is the commission itself, thus leaving the case without a ‘state or any agency, officer, or employee thereof’ as a party to the litigation.
Tesla did not provide a comment on the filing by the Attorney General.
However, we assume that Tesla will move to dismiss the filing as the State is not named as a defendant.
