City of Long Beach v. Standard Oil Co.

The City of Long Beach and the State of California (plaintiffs) appeal from a jury verdict against them and in favor of Exxon. They take issue with four jury instructions given by the trial court and with evidentiary rulings made during the trial. Because we find that the claimed error, if any, in the formulation of the jury instructions was harmless, and because we find that the district court did not err in refusing to admit plaintiffs’ proffered evidence, we uphold the jury’s verdict in favor of Exxon and AFFIRM. Exxon cross-appeals the district court’s denial of their request for attorneys’ fees on the plaintiffs’ contract claims and upon the district court’s grant of the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on Exxon’s counterclaim. We decide the cross-appeal in a separate memorandum filed concurrently with this opinion.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs own oil fields southeast of Los Angeles and offshore of Long Beach. They entered into a contractors’ agreement with various oil companies (who all settled before trial except Exxon) to produce and market the oil. The plaintiffs were paid for the oil by the companies based upon “posted prices” — prices that the purchasers…