WASHINGTON, D.C. -

Dozens of former Chrysler dealers are suing the federal government for $130 million “for the alleged taking of their franchise business,” according to a statement from the dealers’ attorneys released late last week.

Sixty former Chrysler dealers are involved in the suit against the U.S. government, which was filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

In their suit, the dealers claim they were not justly compensated when the property rights included in their Chrysler franchise agreements were allegedly taken from them.

The statement released by attorneys Nancie Marzulla and Roger Marzulla indicates that the impetus for the taking the property rights was the fact that the U.S. Treasury mandated a 790-store reduction in the automaker’s dealer body to allow Chrysler to receive TARP funding.

The 790 dealership sum represented a fourth of the automaker’s network at the time.

“The government’s requirement that Chrysler throw its dealers under the bus in order to obtain TARP funding was incredibly wrong-headed,” said Nancie Marzulla, who is one of the lawyers representing the dealers. She and Roger Marzulla are based out of Washington, D.C.

“Chrysler’s only customers are its dealers — the automaker does not sell new cars directly to the public. So by requiring the dealers to shut down, Chrysler lost 15 percent of its annual revenue, and the country lost 40,000 to 50,000 jobs,” she added. “And these dealers lost a business that many of them had invested often millions of dollars in building up.”

A Chrysler spokesperson declined comment on this lawsuit, noting that “Chrysler is not a party.”

Auto Remarketing had yet to hear back from the U.S. Treasury by deadline.