Anderson v. Chevron Corp.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 1 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he statutory language “decision to withdraw” cannot be understood as having a plain or fixed meaning. The reality of corporate decisionmaking is that there is no single, universal and steadfast method by which corporations make their decisions. Thus, a court’s determination as to the moment at which a withdrawal decision occurred necessarily entails a case-by-case analysis conducted in accordance with the realities of corporate decisionmaking. Pinpointing the withdrawal decision is further complicated by competing policy considerations embodied in the PMPA itself. The PMPA attempts to reconcile two conflicting aims — (1) to protect franchisees’ reasonable expectations and (2) to insure that distributors retain adequate flexibility to respond to changing market conditions and consumer preferences. The court’s interpretation of the market withdrawal provision must reflect the balancing of these competing interests.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Santiago-Sepúlveda v. Esso Standard Oil Co.

2. “the day when the Board of Directors of defendant Chevron [the outgoing franchisor] tentatively approved the proposed exchange of assets with Exxon [the incoming franchisor], and instructed [its officers] to negotiate [and] execute a final exchange agreement”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Unocal Corporation v. Kaabipour & W J