Find Lawyers

Elizabeth McNellie

Elizabeth McNellie serves as counsel for a number of manufacturers, both foreign and domestic, that are subject to motor vehicle franchise statutes, including manufacturers of automobiles, light and heavy duty trucks, motorcycles, ambulances, buses and horse trailers. In that capacity, Ms. McNellie has gained an extensive knowledge of the applicable law, the state agencies charged with enforcement of the relevant statutes and the motor vehicle industry. Ms. McNellie has handled performance-based termination cases, terminations for customer mistreatment and dealer principal felony convictions, relocations, add points, transfer denials, warranty audit disputes, warranty reimbursement litigation and various other conflicts with former, current and prospective dealers. These cases have required Ms. McNellie to appear before federal and state courts and motor vehicle boards of numerous states, including California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan and Nebraska. Ms. McNellie is actively involved in client counseling aimed at the prevention of litigation.

Ms. McNellie recently litigated, through appellate review, the performance-based termination of a dealership that represents multiple manufacturers in a major metropolitan area while successfully avoiding an unfavorable transfer proposal during the pending protest. Defense of the denial of the transfer culminated in a Sixth Circuit decision, in a matter of first impression, affirming the summary judgment decision in favor of Ms. McNellie’s client. Ms. McNellie also recently defended a protest of the relocation of a dealership in another metropolitan market and successfully opposed a requested stay of the relocation pending appellate review of the agency decision allowing the relocation.

Ms. McNellie has successfully defended the at-will termination of a major automobile manufacturer’s franchise agreement with a dealership. In the course of that litigation, she appeared before five different courts and the Ohio Motor Vehicle Dealers Board. The litigation was concluded with a published opinion from the Sixth Circuit establishing that franchisees with agreements that predate the enactment of the motor vehicle franchise statute cannot retroactively apply that statute to termination actions. Ms. McNellie was also part of a trial team that successfully defended an automobile manufacturer’s ability to terminate a dealership agreement when that dealership breached a settlement agreement. Ms. McNellie also has experience reaching settlement with dealerships involving issues of future performance, post termination repurchase obligations, transfer of assets to third parties and the waiver of protest rights.

Ms. McNellie has been lead counsel on cases involving noncompetition agreements and trade secret issues, ERISA benefits, property rights involving mineral estates, insurance coverage issues, breach of contract, fraud and alleged class actions. In addition, she has taken an active role in several tax matters that are being litigated before the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals and into the appellate courts. Working directly with a tax attorney, Ms. McNellie is able to ensure that the tax issues are presented most powerfully as a factual matter and in such a manner as will be most advantageous when appealed to nontax-oriented tribunal.

In addition, Ms. McNellie has actively supervised the handling of almost seven thousand consumer law cases for a major automobile manufacturer in more than 20 states and the Virgin Islands. For these cases, typically involving the relevant state’s Lemon Law, Ms. McNellie supervises a Baker Hostetler team of three staff attorneys and three paralegals. This work involves the retention of local counsel across the country and requires budgetary monitoring and maintenance of a sophisticated statistical reporting system. In connection with this work, Ms. McNellie has worked closely with the firm’s Information Technology Department to develop, refine and maintain a case management system tailored to these types and volume of cases.

Although now in the Columbus office, Ms. McNellie initially joined the Cleveland office of Baker Hostetler after a one-year federal clerkship with Judge N. Carlton Tilley Jr. in the Middle District of North Carolina. In law school, Ms. McNellie served as an articles editor with the Columbia Law Review, and her article, “The Use of Extrinsic Aids in the Interpretation of Popularly Enacted Legislation,” was published at 89 Colum. L. Rev. 157.