Baldauf v. Amoco Oil Co., 81-1598
| Decision Date | 17 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-1598,81-1598 |
| Parties | Harold BALDAUF and Douglas J. Lang, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AMOCO OIL COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Mark H. Cousens, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Anthony A. Derezinski, Cholette, Perkins & Buchanan, Grand Rapids, Mich., for defendant-appellee.
Before MARTIN and WELLFORD, Circuit Judges, and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.
Appellants, Baldauf and Lang, filed their suit under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act. "PMPA", 15 U.S.C. Sec. 2801 et seq., seeking injunctive and other relief, with respect to a non-renewal of a full service Amoco franchise in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Appellants seek principally equitable relief to prevent the change in operations of the service station property at which appellants have operated a repair business over many years. Appellee, Amoco, gave notice that at the termination of the existing five year lease in 1981 that it intended to tear down the existing service station building and build a "pumper" station under a marketing plan to sell larger quantities of gasoline to increase the profitability of that location to Amoco. This strategy was determined after a nationwide market survey; the location in question was deemed by Amoco to be most advantageous for a "pumper" station operation, which would eliminate appellants' repair business. Appellants, however, were not discouraged from relocating the repair operation to adjacent premises, if available.
Appellee delivered a notice to appellants of its intendment for the leased premises more than ninety (90) days prior to the expiration of the lease, which action has been found by the District Court to be in conformity with the requirements of 15 U.S.C. Sec. 2804. Appellants contended that this notice of nonrenewal under changed conditions did not comply with PMPA because it was anticipatory, given before discussion with appellants about the proposed change in operations. They also asserted that it failed to contain sufficient reason for nonrenewal. Further, appellants contended that PMPA prohibited such proposed nonrenewal (or conditional renewal) since their franchise had less than three years to run when PMPA became effective on June 19, 1978, and the change proposed was not to the franchise but to the building. Appellants' further complaint was that Amoco did not offer the disputed premises to them for sale or on...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rogue Valley Stations, Inc. v. Birk Oil Co., Civ. No. 83-199-PA.
...franchisor's silence may have misled franchisee) with Baldauf v. Amoco Oil Company, 553 F.Supp. 408, 417 (W.D.Mich.1981), aff'd, 700 F.2d 326 (6th Cir.1983) (franchisor's past approval of franchisee's operation of auto repair business did not estop franchisor from changing from full service......
-
Marks v. Shell Oil Co.
...Siecko v. Amerada Hess Corp., 569 F.Supp. 768 (E.D. Pa.1983); Baldauf v. Amoco Oil Co., 553 F.Supp. 408 (W.D.MI 1981), aff'd 700 F.2d 326 (6th Cir.1983). At the same time, however, the Court is not to substitute its judgment for the business decisions of a franchisor. Gruber v. Mobil Oil Co......
-
Valentine v. Mobil Oil Corp.
...Cong. & Ad.News 873, 877 [hereinafter cited as S.Rep.]; see Baldauf v. Amoco Oil Co., 553 F.Supp. 408, 412 (W.D.Mich.1981), aff'd, 700 F.2d 326 (6th Cir.1983); see generally Humboldt Oil Co. v. Exxon Co., U.S.A., 695 F.2d 386 (9th Cir.1982). A product of compromise, 4 the PMPA affords franc......
-
Anand v. Bp West Coast Products LLC
...Valentine v. Mobil Oil Corp., 789 F.2d 1388, 1392 (quoting Baldauf v. Amoco Oil Co., 553 F.Supp. 408, 412 (W.D.Mich.1981), aff'd, 700 F.2d 326 (6th Cir.1983)). franchisor meets the `normal course of business' requirement if the determination was the result of the franchisor['s] normal decis......