U.S. Supreme Court PERKINS v. STANDARD OIL CO., 395 U.S. 642 (1969) 395 U.S. 642

[Page 395 U.S. 642, 643]

3. Since petitioner was the principal victim of Standard's price discrimination and not just an innocent bystander, he was entitled to present evidence of all his losses to the jury. Pp. 649-650.

396 F.2d 809, reversed and case remanded to District Court for reinstatement of verdict and judgment.

Earl W. Kintner and George R. Kucik argued the cause for petitioner. With them on the briefs were Thomas L. Siegel, Roger Tilbury, Ernest Bonyhadi, and Bruce M. Hall.

Richard J. MacLaury argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Francis R. Kirkham and H. Helmut Loring.

MR. JUSTICE BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

In 1959 petitioner, Clyde A. Perkins, brought this civil antitrust action against the Standard Oil Company of California seeking treble damages under 2 of the Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act,[Footnote 1] for injuries alleged to have resulted from Standard's price discriminations in the sale of gasoline and oil during a period of over two years from 1955 to 1957. In 1963, after

[Page 395 U.S. 642, 644]

a lengthy and complicated trial, the jury returned a verdict for Perkins and assessed damages against Standard of $333,404.57, which, after trebling by the court and after the addition of attorney's fees, resulted in a total judgment against Standard of $1,298,213.71. On review, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the assessment of damages included injuries to Perkins that were not recoverable under the Act and therefore ordered a new trial. Standard Oil Co. of California v. Perkins, 396 F.2d 809. We granted certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals, in reversing the judgment, had correctly construed the Robinson-Patman Act.

Petitioner Perkins entered the oil and gasoline business in 1928 as the operator of a single service station in the State of Washington. By the mid-1950's he had become one of the largest independent distributors of gasoline and oil in both Washington and Oregon. He was both a wholesaler, operating storage plants and trucking equipment, and a retailer through his own Perkins stations. From 1945 until 1957, Perkins purchased substantially all of his gasoline requirements from Standard. From 1955 to 1957 Standard charged Perkins a higher price for its gasoline and oil than Standard charged to its own Branded Dealers,[Footnote 2] who competed with Perkins, and to Signal Oil & Gas Co., a wholesaler whose gas eventually reached the pumps of a major competitor of Perkins. Perkins contends that Standard's price and price-related discriminations against him seriously harmed his competitive position and forced him, in 1957, to sacrifice by sale what remained of his once independent business to

[Page 395 U.S. 642, 651]

Signal Oil & Gas Co. Through a chain of majority-owned subsidiaries, Signal marketed this gasoline at stations which competed with petitioner's outlets. Since we are dealing with a chain of majority-owned subsidiaries, it seems quite likely that the discriminatory price given Signal would have a vital effect on the pricing decisions of the stations which eventually marketed Signal's gasoline. Even if the lower price were not passed on to the company marketing the gasoline, that company would be more willing to accept losses in a protracted price war if it knew that its "grandfather" corporation were making some extra, and partially offsetting, profits. For this reason, and since in interpreting the antitrust laws "[w]e must look at the economic reality of the relevant transactions," United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc., 393 U.S. 199, 208 (1968), I would treat Signal, the beneficiary of the discriminatory price, as if it were directly competing with petitioner's stations. Respondent's price discrimination, on this view, in effect injured competition with a company which "knowingly receive[d] the benefit of such discrimination," Clayton Act 2 (a), 38 Stat. 730, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, 49 Stat. 1526, 15 U.S.C. 13 (a), and the case could properly go to the jury for determination of "causation" and damages. Accordingly, I see no reason to intimate, even by indirection, what the result would be if wholly independent firms had intervened in the distribution chain. I would therefore explicitly limit the holding to the facts of the case before us.

[Page 395 U.S. 642, 653]