Santiago-Sepúlveda v. Esso Standard Oil Co.

256 F.R.D. 39, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20168
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 25, 2009
DocketCivil Nos. 08-1950 (CCC), 08-1986(CCC), 08-2025(CCC), 08-2032(CCC), 08-2044(CCC)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 256 F.R.D. 39 (Santiago-Sepúlveda v. Esso Standard Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Santiago-Sepúlveda v. Esso Standard Oil Co., 256 F.R.D. 39, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20168 (prd 2009).

Opinion

[41]*41 OPINION AND ORDER

JUSTO ARENAS, United States Chief Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the court on a motion for summary judgment by certain gasoline retailer counter defendants against Total Petroleum Puerto Rico, Inc. (“Total” or “TPPRC”) and Esso Standard Oil Company (Puerto Rico), Inc. (“Esso”). (Docket No. 155.) Total filed its first counterclaims on September 26 and 27, 2008 (Docket Nos. 52-56), and submitted its third amended counterclaims — its most recent — on December 4, 2008. (Docket No. 172.) Esso filed its most recent (amended) counterclaims on October 2 and 3, 2008. (Docket Nos. 68-70, 78, 79.) Counter defendants from case numbers 08-1950 and 08-2025 filed this motion for summary judgment on November 24, 2008, (Docket No. 155), and counter defendants from case 08-1986 joined in this motion the next day. (Docket Nos. 157 & 166.) After three extensions of time to file a reply brief, Total submitted its reply on February 17, 2009. (Docket No. 221.)

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In March 2008, Esso announced its intention to terminate its Puerto Rico gasoline retail franchises on September 30,2008. The company later changed the termination date to October 31, 2008. (Docket No. 41.) On August 26, 2008, a large group of Esso franchisees filed a complaint under the Petroleum Marketing Practice Act (“PMPA”) (15 U.S.C. § 2801 et seq.) against Esso to enjoin it from terminating the franchises. (Docket No. 2.) Total was not named as a defendant in that complaint. Four other complaints were subsequently filed in four separate cases, all of which were consolidated into this one. Total was a named defendant in two of those cases (Civil No. 08-1986, Docket No. 1; Civil No. 08-2032, Docket No. 1), but was not named in the other two. (Civil No. 08-2025, Docket No. 1; Civil No. 08-2044, Docket No. 1. ) On September 4, the retailer plaintiffs in the consolidated case (Civil No. 08-1950) moved for a preliminary injunction to prevent Esso from terminating their franchises. (Docket No. 7.) Total moved to intervene in the consolidated case on September 9, 2008, as the motion for preliminary injunction posed a threat to its plans to purchase the gasoline retail franchises that Esso sought to terminate. (Docket No. 10.) On October 9, 2008, I granted Total’s motion. (Docket No. 91.) In early October, certain franchisees reached an agreement with Total, and on October 7, 2008, I entered a modified order binding the parties to the agreement. (Docket No. 81.) The modified order provided that the plaintiffs in cases 08-2032 and 08-2044 were to sign agreements with Total whereby the corporate name Total would substitute the corporate name Esso in all agreements then existing between Esso and those plaintiffs. (Id. at 1.) The duration of the newly formed agreements was to be three (3) years from November 1, 2008.(Id.) No parties to the agreement waived any rights or claims accrued to that date or in the future under the PMPA or any other applicable federal or local law or regulation. (Id. at 2. ) This Court retained “strict supervisory powers over compliance by the parties with the terms of th[e] order.” (Id.) The order provided that “Esso and Total will continue to be parties in these cases until final resolution of the respective causes of action, or until an agreement with all Plaintiffs has been reached and approved by this Court.” (Id. at 2-3.)

As to the original plaintiffs not involved in this agreement, I issued an Opinion and Order denying their motion for preliminary in[42]*42junction on October 18, 2008. (Docket No. 118.) On October 29, 2008, plaintiffs in case 08-1986 announced that they had agreed to accept the franchise agreements offered by Total. (Docket No. 146.) Between that date and October 31, 2008, all but two of those plaintiffs signed agreements with Total. (Docket No. 157.) The remaining two parties simply turned over their retail stations to Esso. (Id.)

Now that all or nearly all of the original plaintiffs have settled with Total in one fashion or another,1 Total focuses its pending counterclaims on those plaintiffs that have allegedly continued to operate their gasoline stations without accepting the terms of a franchise agreement with Total (so called “Non-Franchise Plaintiffs”)2. (Docket No. 172, at 4.) These Non-Franchise Plaintiffs consist of Delmaried, Inc., Santos Pabón, José Pabón, Sixto Pabón, Juan Quevedo, Fernando Martínez, Julio López, and Javier Torres Caraballo. (Id.) The Non-Franchise Plaintiffs are all plaintiffs from the case originally filed as 08-1950. (Docket No. 2, at 1-2.) Total also directs its counterclaims at those gasoline retailers that were not parties to the underlying suit against Esso but who are also alleged to be continuing to operate their gasoline stations without agreeing to Total’s franchise terms (so called “Non-Plaintiff Retailers”). (Id. at 5, ¶ 5.) Total has filed a separate motion to join the latter parties as defendants to its counterclaim. (Docket No. 177.) That motion remains outstanding and will be addressed separately. Total has also moved for a preliminary injunction seeking almost identical relief to the injunctive remedies sought in its counterclaim. (Docket No. 181.) That motion will be addressed separately as well.

There are nine claims for relief in the third amended complaint. The first three are primarily directed at the Non-Franchise Plaintiffs and Non-Plaintiff Retailers. They seek an order enjoining the continued use of their gasoline stations and equipment contained therein. (Docket No. 172, at 24-31, ¶¶ 72-99.) They rely on Section 32(1) of the Lan-ham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)), Section 43(c) of that Act, the Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. § 1125(c)), and 15 U.S.C. § 2806 of the PMPA. (Id.) The fourth3 and seventh claims for relief seek declaratory judgments essentially holding that Esso and Total complied with the provisions of the PMPA in terminating Esso’s franchise agreements, and that the terms of the new agreements offered by Total comply with local and federal law. (Id at 31-32, 34.) The fifth claim asserts that Total has been deprived of revenue and market share because of counter defendants’ “interference with a contract o[f] expectancy, which has resulted in [Total’s] inability to sell its products from the gasoline service stations after the September 30, 2008 termination date____” (Id at 32-33, ¶ 106.) For this, Total seeks damages of $1.1 million. The sixth claim seeks indemnification from counter defendants in the event Total should be sued for any actions or omissions of counter defendants as gasoline retailers. (Id at 33, ¶ 109.) The eighth claim seeks the return of gasoline station equipment to Total and requests damages to compensate Total for the equipment’s unauthorized use. (Id at 35, ¶ 114.) Finally, the ninth claim seeks repayment of a loan made out to counter defendants, Santos, José and Sixto Pabón. (Id.

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Bluebook (online)
256 F.R.D. 39, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/santiago-sepulveda-v-esso-standard-oil-co-prd-2009.