Rancho Drive-In Theatre, Inc., and Bell Drive-In Theatre, Inc. v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

This is an interlocutory appeal, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b), from an Order of the District Court for the Northern District of California, granting partial summary judgment to appellee. This appeal grows out of complex antitrust litigation and only those facts material to a decision here will be recited.

On November 4, 1958, Rancho Drive-In Theatres Corporation (referred to hereafter as “Rancho”) filed an anti-trust suit against Fox West Coast Theatre Corporation (referred to hereafter as “Fox”), and others. This suit was ultimately settled and compromised as to Fox on August 13, 1959, when a “General Release” was executed in favor of Fox and, among others, “its past and present parents.” Joining in this release as a releasor was Bell Drive-In Theatre, Inc. Both Rancho and Bell, appellants here, were among several plaintiffs below who filed, on December 28,1960, the present anti-trust suit against, among others, Fox and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (a Delaware corporation referred to hereafter as “Twentieth Century”). After various pleadings, it was stipulated between all plaintiffs below and defendant Fox that, because of the general release of August 13, 1959, no…