Suit filed over ownership of Competition Accessories

SPRINGFIELD — A dispute has broken out over ownership of a well-known Springfield motorcycle store, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 14 in Clark County Common Pleas Court.

Competition Accessories, 343 W. Leffel Lane, was purchased by Ride Motorcycles Inc. in 2003, according to the store’s website. But in the suit, filed by former operations manager Jack A. Bowshier and his son, Jack D. Bowshier, they claim there was an agreement from 2003 for Dean Kruse, the owner of Ride Motorcycles Inc., to slowly transfer shares of common stock in the store to Jack Jr. following monthly payments of $22,000. In return Kruse, of Auburn, Ind., would guarantee loans and the real-estate lease to operate the business, the suit claims.

Both sides allege the other did not live up to that agreement and other side business agreements. The lawsuit alleges that Kruse terminated the Bowshiers from Competition Accessories this January. In the lawsuit, the father-and-son Bowshiers are seeking control of the store.

Shawn Bowshier, also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, is currently running Competition Accessories. He said this week that while there have been upper-management changes, he has been vice president and general manager since 1996 and will continue to be.

“There’s no change to our customers and the way we treat people,” Shawn Bowshier said. “(The store) will be here for a long time to come.”

The case has been assigned to Judge Douglas M. Rastatter.

A call to Jack A. Bowshier’s attorney was not returned in time for this article.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0353 or tcox@coxohio.com.

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