Richard S. Simpson v. Union Oil Company of California

This case has been here before. It is an action for damages under the antitrust laws. On the first occasion the motion of Union Oil Company (hereafter Union) for summary judgment was granted. (1961 Trade Cas. Par. 69,936, p. 77,693). We affirmed. Simpson v. Union Oil Company of California, 9 Cir., 311 F.2d 764 (1963). Certiorari was granted and the Supreme Court reversed 5-3, and remanded for further proceedings. Simpson v. Union Oil Company of California, 377 U.S. 13 , 84 S.Ct. 1051 , 12 L.Ed.2d 98 (1964); rehear.den. 377 U.S. 949 , 84 S.Ct. 1349 , 12 L.Ed.2d 313 .

The case involved union’s consignment of gasoline to service stations as a method of price maintenance. Since most of the problems resulting from the remand arise from language in the Supreme Court decision, supra, we quote pertinent parts:

After remand and following a pretrial order of June 20, 1966, in the district court, appellant sought in the Supreme Court, a writ of prohibition or alternately a writ of mandamus, to preclude Union from asserting any “equities” which warrant prospective application of the Simpson decision, 377 U.S. 13 , 84 S.Ct. 1051 , 12 L.Ed.2d 98 , supra, in any other court than the Supreme…