Leiser Family War

Leiser Family War.

I mostly ignored the family war story in the History of the business; however since the late 1970’s the sibling war would take its own toll on the business.  When I decided to leave the business and purchase my own store in 1994 dad would declare a winner of the battle.  In a letter he would write “you let your Sister beat you”.  However my Sister forcing me out of the business in 1994 would not end the war.  I still owned a large share of the business that she wanted.

This will be the Story of the battle.  The Leiser story is not unusual there are libraries full of books on the subject of family business’s and generational transitions.  Our Father would attend and have us attend seminars on family business’s and transitions.  Dad hired experts in the field and consulted with attorneys. 

After over 3 decades of transition planning dad would pass away without a transition plan. The battle would continue for decades because dad would refuse to disclose a succession plan.

 A transition plan would never be written number one is that dad never wanted to relinquish control and number two I believe he found enjoyment in watching the battle progress.  Dad would not pick a winner or choose sides; as the war progressed siblings would fall in and out of favor with him.

As my siblings entered the business I had been there the longest and had already received a share of the business.   

This Chapter is going to take a while to evolve as I continue to work on the main story.  With this link getting the largest number of hits I am going to list some short stories that are not necessarily in order. 

The family moved into a house directly behind the business in 1963. From this time on I spent much of my time around the store and began to learn the business.  My interest was mechanical and I would spend hours salvaging and repairing old engines from the junk pile in the basement. By the time I was 12 years old I had bought and old car as a project and was working on customers lawn mowers in the shop.  When I was 14 I was put on the payroll received a schedule and a paycheck. We moved out of Bethlehem in 1971 this would mostly end my siblings time around the business, however I continued to work after school, weekends and summers.  As a high school senior I was on the co-op program and spent ½ my school day working at the store. College was never an option because my carrier path was set.  My siblings had other carrier path ideas.

The first of my siblings to join the business was Linda in 1976. Linda was married started a family and wanted to work a few days a week.  My younger brother would join the business in 1977 after he completed a new rental industry-sponsored course set up to give the next generation an overview of the rental business.  The rental course ended with the students apprenticing with some of the California rental pioneers.  When my brother returned from California he had our father’s ear.  From day one in the business, my brother’s plan was to take control of the business and push me out or aside.

When my Brother returned from California he would invite me into the office and while sitting in dad's chair explain that he was much smarter than I was and that if I stepped aside he would always make sure that I had a job.  I spent most of my childhood learning the business my brother felt he could walk in and take it all away; The War was on. The following group of short stories will chronicle the Leiser Family War.

The tactic that my siblings would use and would follow me for decades is that I wasn't mentally capable of operating the business.  This would be easy because as an undiagnosed dyslexic I had trouble getting through school.  My school record would be used from the first days of the war and continues today.  My brother would also pick apart and complain about the quality of my work.  It didn't matter that I was given few assets and still was able to patch together an obsolete rental fleet; I would start to see employee warning notices taped to my tool box for all the staff to see.  I would counter this by laminating one of the more petty warning notices’ and permanently taping it to my tool box.  (My original tool box with the now brittle and faded note is in my office).

Macungie; my Brother would convince our father to send me to the Macungie Store. Dad felt this would bring harmony back into the business.  I would go to Macungie and replace the truck driver. The truck driver was Dad’s favorite employee and he missed having him at the main store.  At the time one of my responsibilities was managing the parts and service for Bobcat Skid Steer loaders.  I also handled all the on the road service calls for Bobcat.  My responsibilities could not be handled by my brother or any other employees. My father would solve this problem by moving the entire Bobcat business to Macungie.  The other problem that my brother would be faced with is that I had been the caretaker of a very old and out of date rental inventory. I was moving to a store with a mostly new rental inventory.  What would be left behind for my brother and his staff to handle was an aging fleet of rental equipment that I had grown up with and understood.

On the psychological side, I would be a subordinate, and answer to the uninspired manager of Macungie Store, a man I trained.  I would also have my store keys taken away.  I guess my brother used the key confiscation to have dad question my honesty.

In Macungie the Manager, truck driver and the part-time Saturday guy had a key, Rob Leiser didn't.  This would be annoying to Dad because he would have to loan me his keys when a Farm errand included picking something up at one of the stores.

During the war, I had too many responsibilities to play these psychological games. However, when I could make one of these idiotic games blow up in someone’s face I would.  The Key battle was one of my favorite stories because it would show that my siblings would neglect the business and the customers to win the war.  The key battle would last for many months before blowing up in my brother’s face.

My Brother, Father, and the truck driver knew the Macungie manager rarely made it to work on time.  If the Manager was late the truck driver opened the store. With the truck driver gone and me without a key, the customers and I would wait for the manager to arrive.  Every morning I would pick up a newspaper, Danish, and a soda and wait for the manager to unlock the door.  The manager would usually show up within an hour of opening sometimes it would be later. One morning after numerous phone calls with not answer, my father drove to Macungie and found the store closed and me sleeping in my car.  I got my key back after that incident.

 

  The Trademark 

During the spring of 2015 I received a cease and desist order from Leiser’s Bethlehem.  I was to stop using the name Leiser’s (my name) on my business.  The name had been on the Forks Township store since it opened in 1995, and the right to use the name was included in the purchase and separation agreement in 1995. While I was amused at the letter my attorney was concerned.  It seemed the nephew wanted use trademark infringement as a bargaining chip in my attempt to collect a large sum of unpaid rent.  My lawyer was somewhat relieved when I shared the documents that showed that the right to use the name was part of the purchase agreement.

The fact that the business name Leiser’s was even trademarked surprised me since the change from Donald W Leiser Lawn and Garden to “Leiser’s” was a slow process that started years before the business was incorporated in 1970.  What I would learn is that my sister Linda’s son started the trademark process several months after I started legal action to collect long overdue rent.  

I assume Linda would authorize spending the thousands on the trademark ploy without consulting her board of directors.  If she had consulted her board she would have known that a senior board member signed the cooperation agreement that gave me right to use the name in 1995.  Linda also ignored my father’s handwritten notes, and the contract my father signed in 1995.  

   

My attorney approached this cautiously and wanted to consult with an Intellectual property attorney.  Next step was a sit down with an IP attorney.  While I have a working knowledge of the legal system I found the meeting with the IP attorney fascinating and educational.

When the business’s separated I had decided to add rentalbarn to the business name as a precaution for just such a situation.  I was originally prepared to drop the Leiser name when the trademark litigation started, however, after meeting with the IP attorney I decided not to move so quickly.

Why would Linda ignore the 1995 cooperation agreement?  This question would be answered several times as Linda would use the trademark to force me to agreed to her terms for a settlement.

One of the consequences of the trademark ploy would cost Linda the ability to consult with the Business’s law firm when it came to dealing with the sale of the land.  Since Linda’s law firm had not only worked on the 1995 separation agreement, one of the firm’s partners chose and registered “Leiser’s of Easton Inc.” for my business.  Since the cease and desist order was generated by one of the firm’s attorneys this was a clear conflict of interest.    

Where is the trademark litigation now?  Hibernation; however, I suspect I have not seen the end of the trademark litigation

In her own words; this is a paragraph added to a settlement agreement.

 Robert D. Leiser agrees that he will identify his business only with that specific complete name and specifically agrees to revise/confirm all of his advertising associated with his rental business, including building signage, internet and telephone book content to reflect “Leiser’s Rental Barn”, and further that he shall complete any necessary revisions within 60 days of closing.  

5 2017 
Recently the Staff at Leiser’s Bethlehem has been telling customers that I stole the name.  My reply is unless the nephew decides to change his name I am the last of the 3 generations of Mr. Leiser’s who have been involved in Leiser’s Rental over the last 69 years.