Amedeo Girardi, Doing Business as Girardi Bearing Company v. The Gates Rubber Company Sales Division, Inc.

This is a private treble damage suit under the antitrust laws. (Sec. 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15 ). The appellee, here called Gates, is and has been at all times referred to herein, engaged in the business of manufacturing and distributing belts and pulleys which were commonly used for the transmission of power to various machines. Its business involved trade in commerce between California and other States of the United States. 1 The principal charge made against it by appellant was that it conspired with another to fix resale prices in violation of Sec. 1 of the Sherman Act ( 15 U.S.C. § 1 ).

The appellant Girardi had been in the business of distributing power transmission equipment, including belts and pulleys, since 1944. He first had a store at Stockton, California, which was operated by Girardi and one Jones as partners. In 1950 the partnership was dissolved and Jones formed a partnership for the carrying on of the same type of business with one Les C. Oranges who apparently had bought out Girardi’s interest in the original store. Girardi then in 1950 opened a similar business in Salinas, California, another in Modesto, California, and a third in Stockton,…

(concurring).

While I do not and cannot agree with certain interpretations of the evidence relied upon by my brother Pope, it would serve no useful purpose for me to list them here.

This case comes before us by reason of the trial court having granted, after the plaintiff’s case has been presented to a jury, a motion to dismiss. The district court thus held as a matter of law there was no sufficient substantial evidence of the conspiracy charged to go to the jury.

With this I cannot agree. There existed questions of fact that might well have been decided, either in favor of appellant or against him, upon a weighing of all the evidence by either a jury or judge acting as the trier of facts. I cannot agree there exists in the record no substantial evidence from which a conspiracy might not have been properly and legally inferred by such trier of fact, rather than a finding that a “Colgate” situation existed, giving the seller the sole discretion as to with whom he would or would not deal. And of course, we are required to view whatever evidence exists in the light most favorable to plaintiff and to give him the benefit of all inferences which are fairly supported by the evidence,…

325 F.2d 196 Amedeo GIRARDI, doing business as Girardi Bearing Company, Appellant, v. The GATES RUBBER COMPANY SALES DIVISION, INC., Appellee. No. 18008. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. November 21, 1963. Rehearing Denied December 31, 1963. Joseph L. Alioto, and G. Joseph Bertain, Jr., San Francisco, Cal., for appellant. Dayton Denious, Denver, Colo., Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, and Lawrence C. Baker, San Francisco, Cal., for appellee. Before CHAMBERS, Chief Judge, and POPE and BARNES, Circuit Judges. POPE, Circuit Judge. 1 This is a private treble damage suit under the antitrust laws. (Sec. 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15 ). The appellee, here called Gates, is and has been at all times referred to herein, engaged in the business of manufacturing and distributing belts and pulleys which were commonly used for the transmission of power to various machines. Its business involved trade in commerce between California and other States of the United States. 1 The principal charge made against it by appellant was that it conspired with another to fix resale prices in violation of Sec. 1 of the Sherman Act ( 15 U.S.C. § 1 ). 2 The appellant Girardi…