Nicolosi Distributing v. Annex Santa Clara CA1/2

BACKGROUND

The Parties Appellant Nicolosi is a California corporation that distributes automotive paint to body shops in the San Francisco Bay Area. Respondents are the six defendants named by Nicolosi in its verified complaints. One respondent is Annex Santa Clara, Inc., also known as Annex Automotive and Industrial Finishes (Annex), also a distributor of automotive paint and thus a competitor of Nicolosi. The other respondents are a group that owns and operates some 13 body shops in the Bay Area and purchase automotive paint from distributors: Bobby Ali, Rick Ali, AW Collision, Inc., Autowest Collision Repairs, Inc., and M1 Auto Collision Center (collectively, the Ali defendants). The Verified Complaints On June 14, 2013, Nicolosi filed a verified complaint and thereafter a verified first amended complaint that repeated essentially verbatim the allegations in the original. As pertinent here, both verified complaints alleged the following: Paint manufacturing companies publish a “refinisher” price list, establishing the prices to be charged by distributors to body shops (the refinishers). And larger shops, such as the Ali defendants, would get a volume discount of 20 to 30…