Forty-Niner Truck Plaza, Inc. v. Union Oil Co. of Cal.

In the early 1990’s, defendant Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) decided to sell its nationwide network of truck stops (network) to defendant National Auto/Truckstops, Inc. (National). Invoking Business and Professions Code section 20999.25, subdivision (a) (hereafter, section 20999.25(a)), the two plaintiffs, Forty-Niner Truck Plaza, Inc., of Sacramento (Forty-Niner) and Mid California Auto/Truck Plaza, Inc. of Santa Nella (Mid-Cal; collectively, the plaintiffs), asked Unocal for the opportunity to buy their respective truck stops, which were part of the network. Unocal gave Forty-Niner and Mid-Cal the chance to buy their truck stops on the same basic terms that National had offered.

When Forty-Niner and Mid-Cal were unable to make the purchases, they sued Unocal, National, and defendant Clipper Group, L.P. (Clipper), claiming that defendants had manipulated the purchase prices allocated to these two truck stops so that Forty-Niner and Mid-Cal would be unable to afford them. In a multimillion-dollar verdict, which included punitive damages, a jury found in the plaintiffs’ favor. The trial court granted the defendants a new trial, finding in part that the weight…