William F. Scanlan v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., a Corporation

Appellant has brought suit against ap-pellee alleging breach of a contract of distributorship, unfair competition and violation of state and federal antitrust laws. He appeals from a judgment of dismissal by the District Court following directed verdict. The question before us is whether, upon any of his claim's, an issue remains for the jury. Finding no such issue, we affirm.

Appellee is a brewery with nationwide distribution of its products: Budweiser and Michelob premium beers and Busch Bavarian, a popular-priced beer. Appellant is a beer distributor located in Stockton, California. Prior to 1961 ap-pellee’s premium beers were distributed throughout San Joaquin County, California, by Fred Barosso, while appellant was distributor of the popular-priced Hamm’s beer. In 1961 Barosso suggested to appellant that the two distributorships be combined. Appellant was not interested in this proposal but did agree to an arrangement whereby he purchased certain of Barosso’s assets for $10,000, employed Barosso and took over his distributorship of Budweiser and Michelob.

Prior to 1963 appellee had not entered the highly competitive Pacific Coast market in popular-priced beer. In that year…