Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Elizabeth A. 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 termination cases, relocations, add points, transfer denials, warranty reimbursement litigation and various other disputes 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, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, 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. 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. The case involved the successful defense of that manufacturer's separate and exclusive policy. Ms. McNellie also has experience reaching settlement with dealerships involving issues of future performance, post termination repurchase obligations and the waiver of protest rights.

Ms. McNellie has been lead counsel on cases involving non-competition 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 a non-tax-oriented tribunal.

In addition, Ms. McNellie actively supervises the handling of hundreds of 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 a case management system tailored to these types and volume of cases.

Ms. McNellie 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 1994, Ms. McNellie moved to the Columbus office, but has continued her representation of several clients in the Cleveland area. 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 (1989).

Areas of Practice

• Litigation: Motor Vehicle & Equipment Franchise Practice
• Litigation: Commercial
• Litigation: Appellate
• Tax
• Automotive
• Distribution and Franchise

Bar Admissions

• Ohio, 1990
• U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, 1990
• U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1992
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, 1992
• U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit, 1996
• U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit, 1996

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association (Member)

Past Employment Positions

• Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., in the Middle District of North Carolina, Federal Clerk

Education

• Columbia Law School, New York, New York, 1989
  J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence
  
  Law Review: Columbia Law Review, Articles Editor, 1988 - 1989
• Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 1986
  Ph.B., Bachelor of Philosophy

Published Works

• The Use of Extrinsic Aids in the Interpretation of Popularly Enacted Legislation, 89 Columbia Law Review 157, No. 1, 1989
• Maryland Court Uses Novel Interpretation of Dealer Agreement to Determine that Good Cause Statute Applied to Termination, December, 2008
• Your Dealer Has Closed Its Doors—Now What?, October, 2008
• Florida Legislature Sends SB 2582 to Governor Crist for Signature, May, 2008

Address

Capitol Square
Suite 2100
65 East State Street
Columbus, OH 43215-4260

Phones

(614) 462-2651

Faxes

(614) 462-2616

Emails

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Websites

http://www.bakerlaw.com