AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — After several dealers won reinstatement via arbitration and announced their intention to sue Chrysler over the Letters of Intent they received, Chrysler issued a response.

Basically, the Letter of Intent lays out certain requirements that must be met or agreed upon before reinstatement officially takes place.

In essence, Chrysler claims it is following the letter in the law and that the Letter of Intent it sends to dealers reinstated through arbitration is "customary and usual."

Some dealers, however, such as Century Motor Corp. in Wentzville, La., disagree, contending that the letter is unacceptable and that other dealers already in the automaker's network do not need to live up to the same stipulations.

In its statement, Chrysler explained that the "difficult" decision to reduce its dealer network was a necessary part of its survival and vital to the financing and proposed sale to Fiat. In order for the deal to go through, Chrysler said it had to trim down its dealership count by 25 percent and that Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur Gonzalez upheld this action.

However, Congress did give rejected dealers a chance to regain their franchise.

The Chrysler management team said, "On Dec. 16, 2009, the U.S. Congress passed H.R. 3288 enabling the 789 affected dealers to pursue binding arbitration in order to secure an opportunity to rejoin Chrysler's dealer network. The bill stipulates that dealers who prevail in binding arbitration would receive a customary and usual Letter of Intent to enter into a sales and service agreement with Chrysler Group LLC provided they meet financial and operational prerequisites.

"In May 2010 arbitration hearings began for 418 of the 789 affect dealers who opted into the binding arbitration process. It is expected the process will conclude in late July," according to the automaker.

As of July 2, Chrysler said more than 125 of 418 filed arbitration cases have been dismissed, withdrawn or abandoned. Meanwhile, 73 decisions have been handed down by arbitrators, with Chrysler winning in 54 cases.

"An undisclosed number of cases have been settled, and fewer than 10 cases still remain to be arbitrated. Of the Letters of Intent issued so far to arbitrating dealers, 29 have been accepted," the automaker stated.

Ultimately, Chrysler's management team said it is looking forward to getting past the arbitration process and concluding its dealer network plans.

"The company is complying with the federal statute by issuing a customer and usual Letter of Intent to dealers that prevail in arbitration and is looking forward to discussions with prevailing dealers. These discussions are, and will remain, private business matter. The decisions to select dealers for the company's right-sized dealer network were carefully considered as part of Chrysler's Genesis Project. Placing all four brands under one roof in modern facilities has already resulted in enhanced profitability for the Genesis dealerships," Chrysler indicated.