Murdaugh Volkswagon, Inc. v. First Nat. Bank of South Carolina, s. 78-1678

• Decision Date: 03 March 1981
• Docket Number: 78-1679,Nos. 78-1678,s. 78-1678
• Citation: 639 F.2d 1073
• Parties: 1980-81 Trade Cases 63,765 MURDAUGH VOLKSWAGEN, INC., and Eunice B. Murdaugh, Appellants, v. The FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SOUTH CAROLINA, a Corporation, and Buchanan Volkswagen, Inc., a Corporation, Appellees. MURDAUGH VOLKSWAGEN, INC., and Eunice B. Murdaugh, Appellees, v. The FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SOUTH CAROLINA, a Corporation, and Buchanan Volkswagen, Inc., a Corporation, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 1073

639 F.2d 1073

1980-81 Trade Cases 63,765

MURDAUGH VOLKSWAGEN, INC., and Eunice B. Murdaugh, Appellants, v. The FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SOUTH CAROLINA, a Corporation, and Buchanan Volkswagen, Inc., a Corporation, Appellees.

MURDAUGH VOLKSWAGEN, INC., and Eunice B. Murdaugh, Appellees, v. The FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SOUTH CAROLINA, a Corporation, and Buchanan Volkswagen, Inc., a Corporation, Appellants.

Nos. 78-1678, 78-1679.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 7, 1980.

Decided Jan. 26, 1981.

Rehearing Denied March 3, 1981.

Ellis I. Kahn, Charleston, S. C. (Solomon, Kahn, Roberts & Smith, Charleston, S. C., on brief) and Steven Kapustin, Philadelphia, Pa. (Kramer & Salus, Philadelphia, Pa., on brief), for appellants Murdaugh.

G. Dana Sinkler, Charleston, S. C. (John H. Warren, III, Sinkler, Gibbs & Simon, Charleston, S. C., Robert H. Hodges, Jr., Gen. Counsel, First Nat. Bank of South Carolina, Richard E. Day, Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, S. C., on brief), for appellee First Nat. Bank of South Carolina.

Hans F. Paul, Charleston Heights, S. C. (Paul, Seaton & Devane, Charleston Heights, S. C., on brief), for appellee Buchanan.

Before BUTZNER, FIELD, Senior Circuit Judges, and MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge.

MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge:

Murdaugh Volkswagen, Inc. and Eunice Murdaugh filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division, against the defendants First National Bank of South Carolina and Buchanan Volkswagen. The complaint, proceeding under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2 (1973), ¹ alleged a conspiracy by both defendants to restrain or monopolize trade. In addition, plaintiffs charged that Buchanan attempted to monopolize trade. ²

The jury returned a verdict on the conspiracy count for Murdaugh Volkswagen in the amount of $195,000, and for Mrs. Murdaugh in the amount of $184,000. ³ The district court, however, granted defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and in the alternative for a new trial. We affirm the trial court grant of the motion for judgment n. o. v. ⁴

Plaintiff Eunice Murdaugh owned and managed Murdaugh Volkswagen, which, prior to its bankruptcy in 1976, sold automobiles in the Charleston, South Carolina, area. Murdaugh's sole direct competitor in Charleston was defendant Buchanan Volkswagen. Both Murdaugh and Buchanan obtained new car financing and maintained accounts with defendant First National Bank of South Carolina.

Plaintiff's theory of the case was that the Bank and Buchanan conspired to drive the plaintiff out of business in order to install Buchanan as the sole Charleston Volkswagen dealer. According to the plaintiffs, the Bank jeopardized and ultimately destroyed Murdaugh Volkswagen by engaging in a variety of financial ploys. First, First National allegedly dishonored checks written by Murdaugh Volkswagen, even though Murdaugh's account contained sufficient funds. Second, the Bank, allegedly without proper notice or due cause, withdrew "floor plan" financing by which the dealership financed the purchase of new automobiles from Volkswagen of America. Third, plaintiffs contended that the Bank unilaterally transferred non-recourse reserve funds to a reserve account that the plaintiff was unable to use.

Turning to Buchanan Volkswagen, plaintiffs attempted to show Buchanan sought an exclusive Volkswagen dealership in the Charleston area. Buchanan offered to purchase Murdaugh Volkswagen, and wrote a letter to Volkswagen of America remarking upon the plaintiffs' precarious financial condition and expressing its willingness to become the sole distributor for Volkswagens in the Charleston area.

Regardless of what conclusion is reached concerning the activities of the Bank and the activities of Buchanan, what is dispositive is the utter failure of plaintiff to show that the two defendants either conspired or acted jointly to injure Murdaugh Volkswagen and install Buchanan as the sole Charleston dealer. Aside from the coincidence that both dealerships banked and had regular contact with First National, the sole "evidence" of conspiracy consisted of three events: (1) In 1974 a bank officer suggested that Murdaugh sell the profitable Porsche-Audi franchise to Buchanan. (2) Shortly after Murdaugh learned its floor plan financing plan had been terminated by First National, C. B. Buchanan, owner of the Buchanan dealership, telephoned to ask if the Murdaughs "would want to sell (the dealership) now." (3) Later, Buchanan again wrote Volkswagen of America to ask for an exclusive dealership.

The inference plaintiffs would draw from the coincidences is that the Bank was feeding Buchanan confidential information in order to assist Buchanan in its effort to assume control of the Charleston Volkswagen market. While coincidence piled on coincidence can ultimately constitute sufficient evidence to permit a jury finding of conspiracy, the instances are too few and too insubstantial here. Proof of collusion is simply too attenuated for us to conclude that the jury had an adequate basis for a finding that the Bank and Buchanan conspired to violate the antitrust laws.

Plaintiffs...