[Download] "Lazy Oil Co. v. Witco Corp." by Third Circuit U.S. Court Of Appeals * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Lazy Oil Co. v. Witco Corp.
- Author : Third Circuit U.S. Court Of Appeals
- Release Date : January 02, 1999
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
Argued: December 11, 1998 (Filed: February 2, 1999) OPINION OF THE COURT This is an appeal from an order of the District Court approving a class action settlement of an antitrust case. Ironically, the lead objector, Lazy Oil Co., is also the lead plaintiff, whose principal, Bennie G. Landers, conceived the suit but later became disaffected with its management and direction and ultimately with its fruits--the settlement. All the objectors are producers of Penn Grade Crude Oil, i.e., crude oil drawn from the western side of the Appalachian Basin within the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.1 The objectors contend that the settlement is not fair, at least to the producer plaintiffs in contrast to the investor plaintiffs. The objectors distinguish between these two types of class members in making their objections to the settlement, alleging that producer plaintiffs, as full-time oil-producing enterprises, have distinct interests and, particularly, unique losses, as compared to investor plaintiffs, who simply invest funds in oil-producing businesses. The objectors maintain that producer plaintiffs lost not only revenues from the lower prices paid for their oil (a loss they share with investor plaintiffs), but also suffered the compounded losses from their inability to invest these lost funds in drilling new oil wells or upgrading their existing ones--losses allegedly not applicable to investor plaintiffs. This alleged distinction is also at the heart of the other two issues raised by objectors in this appeal. They contend that the District Court erred in not certifying a subclass of producer plaintiffs to ensure that their unique interests were adequately represented. Finally, they contend that the Class Counsel--originally hired to bring this suit by the lead plaintiffs, who are now objectors--should have been disqualified from representing the remaining class representatives and the entire class once the objectors chose to attack the settlement.