Anand
Anand v. BP West Coast Products LLC
Opinion
Opinion
Morrow, J.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
On March 29, 2006, plaintiff Usha Anand filed this action against defendant BP West Coast Products LLC (“BP”) and certain fictitious defendants. Plaintiff was formerly a party to an ARCO service station franchise agreement with defendant. She alleges that defendant violated the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (“PMPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 2801-2806 , by failing to renew the agreement in bad faith and outside of the normal course of business, and by subsequently selling the service station to her at a price above its fair market value. She seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs, as well as declaratory relief. On March 5, 2007, defendant filed a motion for summary judgment.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Anand is a former ARCO service station dealer, whose am/pm MINI-Market and PMPA Franchise Agreements with defendant BP expired on April 1, 2005. Anand’s service station and the land on which it was situated were owned by BP. In August 2004, as part of its “L.A. Network Plan,” BP decided to cease doing business at plaintiffs location and sell the property, both because there was…