Founding partner of the law firm of Bellavia Gentile & Associates, LLP, Leonard A. Bellavia is a nationally recognized authority in the field of automotive franchise law and represents hundreds of automobile and marine dealerships across the country in all aspects of commercial litigation and buy-sell transactions. He has been instrumental in negotiating the sale of hundreds of dealerships. He has achieved national recognition for advocating the mass action litigation model on behalf of franchised automobile dealers, and has successfully implemented this strategy to achieve an important settlement in a litigation to recover reasonable compensation for warranty parts reimbursement. Mr. Bellavia has commenced mass action lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of dealers in the United States District Courts against DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Snap-On Tools, and the Tribune Company.
He has recently achieved an important settlement in a lawsuit to recover reasonable compensation for warranty parts reimbursement in a special mass action initiative commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of NY.
A regularly quoted source of comment for Automotive News, Mr. Bellavia is also a regular speaker for national automotive and marine related trade organizations. He serves as Chair of the Automotive Franchise Law Section of the Franchise Law Committee of the New York State Bar Association and has been named Chairperson of the Litigation Section of the National Association of Dealer Counsel ("NADC") and a member of its Board of Directors.
Mr. Bellavia has spent his life in the automobile business as his family has owned one of the largest dealer groups in the New York area since the 1950’s. Mr. Bellavia has been endorsed by the Marine Retailers Association of America ("MRAA") as its recommended franchise counsel to over 10,000 marine dealers nationwide.
Practice Areas
- Automotive Franchise Law
- Dealership Buy-Sell Transactions
- Complex Federal and State Court Litigation
- Dealership Corporate Matters
Education
- St. John's University School of Law (JD, 1982)
- Boston College (BS, 1979)
Bar Admissions
- New York State Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court, Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of New York
- United States Court of Appeals
- United States Supreme Court
Leadership Positions
- NADC Chair of Litigation
- Chair of Automotive Franchise Law of State Bar Association
- MRAA Endorsement as outside counsel to 10,000 Marine Dealers nationwide
Leadership Positions
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Recipient of the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award for providing free legal services to indigent
New Yorkers
