In Response to articles about Jim Glover Chevrolet

In Response to articles about Jim Glover Chevrolet

The allegations made by Roundtree are simply false. The lawsuit seems to be

nothing more than an attempt to blame others for Matt Stinson and Roundtree¡¯s

mismanagement of the dealership. Here is what actually happened.

A couple years ago, the kids and I had a meeting about my retirement and the future of

our organization. I had a 35% passive partner for over 20 years. I didn¡¯t want the kids to

be strapped to that partnership moving forward after my retirement. My partner and I

agreed that the only fair way to dissolve the partnership was to sell the Chevrolet

dealership on Memorial. Jared, Kristen and I purchased the Chevrolet dealership on

the River, where Kristen is the dealer, and moved our main office to that location.

We had multiple people interested in buying the Memorial Chevrolet dealership. That

dealership had been the number one Chevrolet dealership in Oklahoma for many years.

One of the prospective buyers was a big dealer named Matt Stinson with Roundtree

Automotive in Dallas, TX. Matt Stinson said that he had almost $1 billion to buy some

of the biggest dealerships in the region. Based upon experience in the automotive

business, one of our main concerns was how a buyer would treat our employees. We

wanted to make sure that any buyer would respect the employees, allow them to

continue to excel at their jobs and not get rid of loyal dealership employees. Matt

Stinson assured us that Roundtree would keep the employees and treat them well.

The dealership general manager, Steve Harrison, went to Dallas to meet Matt Stinson

to make sure he and Matt Stinson could work together. Steve Harrison knew that if he

wasn¡¯t comfortable with Matt Stinson and Roundtree, we would sell to another buyer. It

was very important that Steve Harrison remain with the dealership and continue to lead

the 180 employees he managed. After meeting with Matt Stinson, Steve Harrison was

excited about the opportunity to work with the Roundtree organization. Matt Stinson

even talked to Steve Harrison about allowing Steve to buy an interest in the dealership.

There were other buyers for the dealership, some offering more money than Roundtree

but the decision to sell to Matt Stinson and Roundtree was based upon the belief that

Matt Stinson and Roundtree would provide the best opportunity for Steve Harrison and

the dealership employees he managed.

Unfortunately, Matt Stinson and Roundtree did not allow Steve Harrison and the

dealership employees to continue operating as they had for years. Within months,

operations were changed, Steve Harrison¡¯s compensation was cut in half, and Matt

Stinson began firing employees.

The Glover family had nothing to do with decisions made in the operation of

Roundtree¡¯s Chevrolet dealership after the sale to Roundtree. Within months of the

sale, Matt Stinson and Roundtree began firing the long term employees of the

dealership. Most of the employees had been at the dealership for 7-12 years, some of

the employees had been with the Jim Glover organization for over 20 years. Roundtree

and Matt Stinson terminated many of these employees right before Christmas.

In the agreement to sell the dealership, we agreed to allow Roundtree to use the

name Jim Glover Chevrolet for a period of one year, as long as Roundtree protected

the integrity and reputation of the Glover name. Matt Stinson and Roundtree were fully

aware, the Glover family owned other dealerships and the family was operating Jim

Glover Chevrolet on the River, where Kristen is the dealer. The agreement to sell to

Roundtree specifically addressed the Glover family¡¯s ownership of other dealerships.

The Glover family is and has always been committed to our employees and

customers. The long time employees of the dealership found jobs at a number of

dealerships in Tulsa and the Glover family provided jobs to some of the employees.

The agreement with Roundtree and Matt Stinson provided that the Glover family would

pay a substantial fee to Roundtree if the Glover family hired any employees that

previously worked for the dealership. The Glover family was approached by several

employees that were without jobs. The employees hired were managers, salespeople,

and a lot porter. We never expected that Matt Stinson and Roundtree would fire so

many long time employees of the dealership without cause.

Jim Glover Chevrolet on Memorial was the number one Chevy dealership in Oklahoma

for many years because of the dedicated employees of the dealership. More than 180

employees did their jobs with integrity and passion to the best of their abilities to take

care of their customers. Matt Stinson and Roundtree broke the spirit of the dealership

by firing many employees.

The Glover family, through Jared and Kristen, will continue the twenty year family

tradition of respecting our employees and treating our customers as we would want to

be treated. Now Matt Stinson and Roundtree are trying to slander our name and

reputation by making allegations in this lawsuit that are far from the truth.

Sincerely,

Jim Glover

President

Claremore Automall LLC dba Jim Glover Chevrolet

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download