William O. Gilley en v. Atlantic Richfield

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff-Appellant William O. Gilley filed this class-action lawsuit in 1998 on behalf of himself and other wholesale pur- chasers of CARB gasoline in the state of California. CARB gas is a cleaner-burning fuel, and since 1996 it is the only 15680 GILLEY v. ATLANTIC RICHFIELD type of gas that can be sold in California. The complaint alleged that Defendants-Appellees, major oil producers, vio- lated § 1 of the Sherman Act by entering into a conspiracy to limit the supply of CARB gasoline and to raise prices.

The allegations of the complaint were plainly similar to those alleged in Aguilar, a class-action suit filed in California Superior Court in 1996. That suit was brought under the Cart- wright Act, CAL. BUS. & PROF. CODE § 16720 et seq., Califor- nia’s equivalent to the Sherman Act. Aguilar, 24 P.3d at 502. The plaintiff in Aguilar was a retail purchaser and consumer of gasoline and sought to represent a class of retail purchas- ers. The plaintiff in this action was a wholesale purchaser and retail dealer of gasoline and sought to represent a class of wholesale purchasers. Both plaintiffs were represented by the same attorneys, and both actions targeted…