Kreisher

The primary issue presented is this: Are judicial decisions holding that a contracting party’s right to refuse consent to an assignment must be exercised in accordance with standards of commercial reasonableness and good faith to be retroactively applied to a situation where a contrary rule prevailed at the time all actions which subsequently formed the basis for this litigation occurred? Our answer is no.

Background and Procedural History

The following is an abbreviated narrative of a massive record, restricted to those matters germane to the limited approach and holding adopted for purposes of resolving these appeals.

From 1971 through 1980, plaintiff Denzil G. Kreisher operated a service station in San Rafael. Plaintiff’s franchise relationship with defendant Mobil Oil Corporation (Mobil) throughout this period was governed by a trio of contracts. Each contract, which had .a term of three years, was comprised of a pair of documents, a “Retail Dealer Contract” and a separately executed “Service Station Lease.” On December 22, 1980, plaintiff and Mobil formally executed a new agreement continuing plaintiff’s franchise and tenancy for the period commencing January 1,…