Morning Star Packing Co. v. SK Foods, L.P.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Presently before the Court is a Motion by Defendants Ingomar Packing Company, Greg Pruett, Los Gatos Tomato Products, and Stuart Woolf (“Defendants”) to dismiss the claims alleged against them in the First Amended Complaint (“Complaint”) of Plaintiffs The Morning Star Packing Company, Liberty Packing Company, LLC, California Fruit & Tomato Kitchens, and The Morning Star Company (“Plaintiffs”) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 12(b)(6). For the reasons set forth below, Defendants’ Motion is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are in the business of processing raw tomatoes into processed tomato products. Defendants are also in the processed tomato products business, and are direct competitors of Plaintiffs. The tomato goods sold by Plaintiffs and Defendants are purchased by large corporations, such as Kraft Foods, Agusa, B & G Foods, and Safeway. Companies wishing to purchase processed tomato products utilize purchasing agents to handle transactions between the company and the processor. These agents, known as customers’ purchasing-agents, are typically…