McLemore v. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC

Montgomery's Industrial Development Board (IDB) entered option contracts with Price McLemore and other landowners (plaintiffs) to buy land for a Hyundai (defendant) industrial park, each contract including a most-favored-nation (MFN) clause promising all landowners the same $4,500-per-acre price. When landowner Joy Shelton refused to sign, IDB initially excluded her land, but reversed course once it realized railroad tracks servicing Hyundai's plant had to cross her property, making her land suddenly essential; rather than pay Shelton the same price and trigger the MFN clause for everyone else, city, state, and Hyundai officials worked together — without IDB's direct involvement — to have Hyundai buy Shelton's land separately for $12,000 per acre, treated as an independent parcel outside IDB's project. McLemore and the other landowners sued IDB and Hyundai for breaching the MFN clause, and the trial court granted both defendants summary judgment.