15 U.S.C. § 1222
Section 1222 · Authorization of suits against manufacturers; amount of recovery; defenses
This is the Sherman Antitrust Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 165 court decisions — leading case United States v. General Motors Corp. (1966)
Most recently applied in Better Way Ford, LLC v. Ford Motor Company (July 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 15 U.S.C. § 1221 · 15 U.S.C. § 1 · 15 U.S.C. § 13
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
An automobile dealer may bring suit against any automobile manufacturer engaged in commerce, in any district court of the United States in the district in which said manufacturer resides, or is found, or has an agent, without respect to the amount in controversy, and shall recover the damages by him sustained and the cost of suit by reason of the failure of said automobile manufacturer from and after August 8, 1956, to act in good faith in performing or complying with any of the terms or provisions of the franchise, or in terminating, canceling, or not renewing the franchise with said dealer: Provided, That in any such suit the manufacturer shall not be barred from asserting in defense of any such action the failure of the dealer to act in good faith.