Auto supplier Piston Group LLC gets to keep its certification as a minority business as it continues a legal battle with the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided in a Thursday opinion.
The court affirmed a decision made by the Wayne County Circuit Court in June 2021 ordering the council to reinstate the Black-owned Southfield company’s status amid the pending litigation.
Council spokesman Michael Layne said in a statement to The Detroit News Friday that the lawsuit against the organization “is without merit.”
“From the onset, we have been confident that the courts will ultimately support the Council’s position in this matter,” Layne said. “This week’s Court of Appeals opinion strongly supports that view. In its opinion, the Court ruled that for a number of reasons the Piston Group Companies are unlikely to prevail on the merits of this case and noted that, contrary to the Piston Group Companies’ allegations, there is no evidence that the Council or its President did something ‘illegal, unethical or fraudulent’ with respect to the Piston Group Companies’ application for minority business certification.”
Piston Group attorney Mark Zausmer declined to provide a statement to The Detroit News and referred to the comment he made to Crain’s Detroit Business: “We are pleased with the opinion. Most importantly, it preserves the injunction, and that means that our certification remains in effect pending the outcome of the trial. In other words, we now are able to maintain our certification while we prove our case, and that’s all we’ve ever wanted to do.”
The court battle has been ongoing since last May when Piston Group sued the council for revoking its certification. The lawsuit claimed the actions taken against the auto supplier by the council and its president Michelle Robinson “were ‘vindictive, willful, wanton, or malicious’ and have negatively affected the holding company’s business relationships,” the company previously said.
The Southfield-based company was founded and is owned and operated by former Detroit Pistons basketball star Vinnie Johnson, who also serves as CEO and chairman of the board of directors.
The council last February revoked the certification of Piston Group’s four subsidiaries: Piston Automotive, Irvin Automotive Products, Detroit Thermal Systems and AIREA, according to the company. A minority business certification from the council aids the group as it bids on automotive supply contracts.
The lawsuit alleges Robinson “threatened” Johnson with decertification on multiple occasions after the company rejected a request for a $300,000 donation and declined to participate as a sponsor in a golf outing in 2019.
To be certified, companies must be controlled by U.S. citizens, be at least 51% minority-owned operated and controlled, be a profit enterprise and located in the U.S. or its trust territories, and have the management and daily operations done by the minority ownership members, according to the council’s website.
Piston Group claims in its lawsuit the council revoked its certification based on the requirement that daily management of operations be handled by an ethnic minority.
khall@detroitnews.com