Does UCC Standard of ‘Good Faith’ Pricing Require Objective or Subjective Analysis?
Donald J. Cassarlie et al. v. Shell Oil Company et al., Case no. 2007-1408 8th District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) ISSUE: Is evidence that the subjective intent of a gasoline supplier in setting its wholesale prices to its lessors/franchisees was to drive them out of business relevant to a claim of “bad faith” pricing under the Ohio Uniform Commercial Code? BACKGROUND: Donald Casserlie and more than 40 other current and former independent operators of Shell Oil Company gas stations in the Cleveland area filed suit against the company in 2000 alleging that Shell breached its contracts with them and violated a provision of the Ohio Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) by deliberately setting the wholesale price of the gasoline it sold to its independent franchisees so high that they could not profitably compete with other stations, including new company-owned Shell stations being opened in the area, and effectively drove the franchisees out of business by means of this “bad faith” prici
