Anderson v. Chevron Corp.

190 F.R.D. 5, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1111, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17977, 1999 WL 1051065
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedNovember 5, 1999
DocketNo. Civ.A. 94-0331(RCL)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 190 F.R.D. 5 (Anderson v. Chevron Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Chevron Corp., 190 F.R.D. 5, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1111, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17977, 1999 WL 1051065 (D.D.C. 1999).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LAMBERTH, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This matter comes before this court on a Rule 60(b)(6) motion filed by counsel on behalf of Richard Proffitt and Star Brothers, Inc. Both Richard Proffitt and Star Brothers, Inc. (collectively, the “Moving Plaintiffs”) were two of thirteen plaintiffs who sued Chevron Corporation (hereinafter “Chevron”) based on claims under both the Federal Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (“PMPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 2801, eb seq., and pendent common law claims. This court granted summary judgment in favor of Chevron and dismissed all claims against Chevron with prejudice. Chevron then moved for an award of attorneys’ fees which went unopposed by the plaintiffs. Pursuant to Local Rule 108, the court entered a judgment on April 16, 1997 awarding Chevron $291,044.10 in attorney’s fees and costs.

On February 12, 1999 a copy of a letter from the collection counsel of Chevron was received by Moving Plaintiffs. Moving Plaintiffs claim this was the first time they became aware of this court’s $291,044.10 attorneys’ fee award to Chevron. Moving Plaintiffs ask this court: 1) to reopen its April 16, 1997 judgment awarding attorneys’ fees; 2) once the judgment is reopened, to deny Chevron’s request for attorneys’ fees on the merits; and 3) to hold a hearing on the conduct on Moving Plaintiffs’ prior counsel who allowed Chevron’s motion for attorneys’ fees to remained unopposed until the present Rule 60(b)(6) motion. For the reasons set forth herein, this court denies Moving Plaintiffs’ request for relief pursuant to Rule 60(b)(6).

II. Background

Moving Plaintiffs along with eleven other plaintiffs filed suit against Chevron in 1993. All of the plaintiffs were owners of Chevron service stations and were dissatisfied with Chevron’s decision to withdraw from the area in which the plaintiffs operated. Chevron arranged for Exxon to offer franchises to the former Chevron dealers. However, plaintiffs were unhappy with the prospect of entering into a franchise agreement with Exxon as Exxon would charge much higher fees than Chevron had done.

The plaintiffs sought legal counsel and retained Richard Bing, Esq. and Gerald M. Bowen, Esq. who were both experienced Virginia attorneys. Both attorneys were experienced with the PMPA. The two attorneys brought in William Taylor, Esq., to assist with the case and to act (according to Mr. Taylor) as local counsel. All three attorneys (hereinafter “Prior Counsel”) brought this action against Chevron for various claims under the PMPA for all plaintiffs and pendent state claims brought for only some of the plaintiffs.

The case was extensively litigated between 1993 and 1996 until Chevron moved for summary judgment. On August 5, 1996 this court entered a memorandum opinion and order granting Chevron’s motion for summary judgment on all claims. Six of the plaintiffs were held liable for money they indisputably owed Chevron. The Moving Plaintiffs were not among the plaintiffs who were named as counter-defendants, so no monetary judgment of any kind was entered against them on August 5, 1996. On August 19, 1996 Chevron filed a Motion For Attorneys’ Fees and Costs. Prior Counsel filed a consent motion for an extension of time to respond, however, they never did respond to Chevron’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees. On April 16, 1997, this court signed an order granting Chevron’s unopposed Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and costs in the total amount of Chevron’s request of $291,044.10. The [7]*7basis of Chevron’s motion for attorneys’ fees was exclusively grounded in the dealer agreements between Chevron and the plaintiffs who owned Chevron service stations. These dealer agreements stated that in any litigation between the parties to the agreement, the prevailing party would be entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees.

The Moving Plaintiffs claim that they were “completely unaware” that their prior counsel had failed to file an opposition and that Chevron’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees had been granted. They claim that they were not even informed of the existence of Chevron’s motion and that neither their Prior Counsel nor Chevron informed them of the attorneys’ fees award. The Moving Plaintiffs claim that they were not kept informed by Prior Counsel throughout the litigation and were abandoned by their counsel. Moving Plaintiffs’ claim in their attached affidavits that:

Attorneys Bing, Bowen, and Taylor engaged in minimal communication with their clients throughout the time the ease was in active litigation. There were no regular written or oral reports, indeed no written reports or progress advisories of any kind. The litigation dragged on and the plaintiffs had to call their counsel to find out what was going on. The answer was, generally, that the case was slowly proceeding.

(Moving Plaintiffs’ Mot. to Reopen at 7.) Moving Plaintiffs complain to this court that Prior Counsel failed to communicate with them with the exception of sending bills. (Moving Plaintiffs’ Mot. to Reopen at 11.) The affidavit of Arturo Aloma, one of the Moving Plaintiffs, stated:

From 1993 to 1996, Star Brothers received no written communications about the case status from our counsel. The only communications we received were bills for monies that needed to be paid to our counsel. Star Brothers was generally aware of the case status from conversations with other co-plaintiff dealers who were co-plaintiffs, i.e., Mr. Harry Land and/or Mr. James Payne. From 1993 to 1996, the only information Star Brothers received was that the case was progressing.

(Arturo Aloma Aff. at 3.) Artoro Aloma went on to state that Star Brother’s former counsel Messrs. Bing, Bowen and Taylor at no time communicated the status of the case. Another Moving Plaintiff, Richard Proffitt stated in his affidavit that:

From 1993 to 1996, the communication between Messrs. Bing, Bowen and Taylor and me were minimal. In fact, I do not specifically recall any telephone conversations. Insofar as written communications were concerned, the only documents or communications that I received from Messrs. Bing, Bowen or Taylor were requests for additional payments toward the expenses of the litigation. I paid the bills.

(Richard S. Proffitt Aff. at 3.) Proffitt went on to complain that:

Our attorneys were supposed to communicate with those of us in the Tidewater Virginia area through James “Jay” Payne, one of our fellow dealers located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. John Payne would report to me that communications were sporadic at best and that he always had to call the attorneys to ask what was going on. Mr. Payne would report that the only information he would receive was that the litigation was progressing. I found it problematic that Messrs. Bing, Bowen and Taylor did not keep us informed of the status of the litigation. Other of my fellow plaintiffs had the same view.

(Richard S. Proffitt Aff. at 3, 4.) Moving Plaintiffs also attached the affidavit of James Payne. Mr. Payne was also one of the original plaintiffs who filed suit against Chevron. Mr. Payne complained of the lack of communication from Prior Counsel as well:

My deposition was taken by Chevron’s counsel at Chevron’s offices in Washington, D.C., some time in 1994. But, following my deposition, communications with our counsel were limited.

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190 F.R.D. 5, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1111, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17977, 1999 WL 1051065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-chevron-corp-dcd-1999.