De Filippo v. Ford Motor Co.

516 F.2d 1313
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMay 8, 1975
DocketNos. 74-1877, 74-1878
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 516 F.2d 1313 (De Filippo v. Ford Motor Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Filippo v. Ford Motor Co., 516 F.2d 1313 (3d Cir. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

Cross appeals from a judgment entered after a jury’s answers to special interrogatories require us to decide whether the district court erred (1) in applying a principle of per se unreasonableness to conduct of Ford Motor Company and certain Philadelphia area Ford [1315]*1315dealers allegedly in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act and (2) in applying the Pennsylvania Statute of Frauds to defeat plaintiffs’ recovery for breach of contract. We reverse the district court’s resolution of the Sherman Act issue and affirm its action in interpreting the Uniform Commercial Code’s Statute of Frauds.

Ford appeals from a judgment of $2,250,000 plus attorneys’ fees of $384,-357 entered for plaintiffs on a count charging that Ford and its Philadelphia dealers engaged in a concerted refusal to deal with plaintiffs, which constituted a per se violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act.1 Plaintiffs Armen De Filippo and Sheldon Fleishman appeal from the entry of judgment for defendant as a matter of law on the count alleging breach of contract by Ford for the sale of a Ford dealership known as Presidential Motors.

I.

Plaintiffs became Ford dealers at Chestnut Motors, Inc. in West Philadelphia in 1969. Less than nine months later part of the facilities, leased from the previous dealer, was destroyed by fire. Thereupon plaintiffs and Ford discussed the possibility of plaintiffs’ acquiring another dealership in the city. On December 18, 1969, plaintiffs signed an instrument, found by the jury to be a contract, according to which they were to purchase the assets, less realty, of Presidential Motors. The real estate was to be leased by plaintiffs from Ford. The instrument also contemplated that plaintiffs would be credited with the value of their interest at Chestnut undiminished by the fire;2 that no risk capital would be invested by plaintiffs for an original period of three (3) months, after which they would put in twenty per cent (20%) of the capital; and that plaintiffs would defer payment of fifty per cent (50%) of the first year’s rent and twenty-five per cent (25%) of the second year’s rent until the fourth and fifth years of the dealership.

When news of the proposal reached other Philadelphia area Ford dealers, they protested to Ford the delayed investment and deferred rent provisions. Ford’s legal department advised Ford that the deferred rent provision was unacceptable unless also offered to other dealers, obviously fearing a conflict with the Robinson-Patman Act.3 Thereafter Ford’s representatives discussed the possibility of deferred rent plans with other dealers. Ford even considered the purchase and lease-back of dealer-owned real estate so that the deferred rents could be offered to all dealers. Significantly, it is clear from the record that [1316]*1316any implementation of the plans was contingent upon acceptance of plaintiffs’ proposal.

Further problems, however, were posed by dealers who did not wish to sell to and lease back from Ford, and by dealers who believed that they might be injured as a result of the delayed investment feature of the Presidential proposal. Ultimately, therefore, the vice-president and general manager of Ford travelled to Philadelphia, announced to the Philadelphia dealers that Ford would not consummate the Presidential proposal with plaintiffs, and instructed the Philadelphia sales manager that he had no objection to plaintiffs’ assuming the Presidential dealership without the delayed investment and deferred rental terms. Plaintiffs made no response to an offer to discuss such a deal. They then filed this lawsuit, including a Sherman Act count, a count for breach of contract, and a count asserting a violation of the Automobile Dealers’ Day in Court Act.4

After the jury answered special interrogatories, the court entered judgment for plaintiffs on the Sherman Act count. Based on the jury’s responses, the court also entered an initial judgment for plaintiffs on the contract claim. However, it thereafter “molded” a verdict for Ford, ruling as a matter of law that the lack of Ford’s signature rendered the instrument unenforceable against Ford for noncomplianee with the Statute of Frauds provision of the U.C.C. relating to sale of goods.5 The jury found a violation of the Dealers’ Day in Court Act, but also found plaintiffs sustained no damages therefrom.6

II.

In order to apply the provisions of the Sherman Act to the facts as found by the jury, it is first necessary to consider the teachings of the Supreme Court. On its face § 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits “[e]very contract, combination . or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States.” The necessity for some sort of narrowing [1317]*1317interpretation of this language was pointed out by Mr. Justice Brandéis in Chicago Board of Trade v. United States, 246 U.S. 231, 238, 38 S.Ct. 242, 244, 62 L.Ed. 683 (1918), where he observed that “[e]very agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains.” (Emphasis added). As the Court has explained through Mr. Justice Black, the result has been that “the courts have construed [§ 1] as precluding only those contracts or combinations which ‘unreasonably’ restrain competition.” Northern Pacific Ry. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 5, 78 S.Ct. 514, 518, 2 L.Ed.2d 545 (1958).

In certain situations the Court has presumed the required “unreasonableness”; that is, the Court has determined that the situations constitute per se violations of § 1. As explained by Mr. Justice Black:

[T]here are certain agreements or practices which because of their pernicious effect on competition and lack of any redeeming virtue are conclusively presumed to be unreasonable and therefore illegal without elaborate inquiry as to the precise harm they have caused or the business excuse for their use. . . . Among the practices which the courts have heretofore deemed to be unlawful in and of themselves are price fixing, United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 210 [60 S.Ct. 811, 838, 84 L.Ed. 1129]; division of markets, United States v. Addyston Pipe & Steel Co., [6 Cir.], 85 F. 271, affirmed, 175 U.S. 211 [20 S.Ct. 96, 44 L.Ed. 136]; group boycotts, Fashion Originators’ Guild v. Federal Trade Comm’n, 312 U.S. 457, [61 S.Ct. 703, 85 L.Ed. 949]; and tying arrangements, International Salt Co. v. United States, 332 U.S. 392 [68 S.Ct. 12, 92 L.Ed. 20].

Ibid.

Addressing the specific type of activity upon which plaintiffs relied to bring this case within the ambit of per se unreasonableness, the Court teaches:

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Bluebook (online)
516 F.2d 1313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-filippo-v-ford-motor-co-ca3-1975.