Opinion ID: 447586
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: checkers's unfair practices claim

Text: 52 Checkers excepts to the district court's finding that Metropolitan did not violate Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 93A, Sec. 2 when it refused to sell Checkers the quantity of Pepsi product Checkers requested. Checkers raises several objections to the judgment: (1) that it ignores the testimony of Randolph that representatives of Metropolitan promised him in January 1980 that he would get all the product he wanted and that Checkers resumed operating the Woburn Beverage Center in reliance on that promise; (2) that even if Randolph's contradicted testimony regarding the January meeting is not credited, it was still the case that Metropolitan had an affirmative duty to inform Checkers that it would limit the quantity of product that Checkers could purchase and that Randolph may have relied on Metropolitan's silence; and (3) that the district court applied an erroneous legal standard when it held that the jury's finding that Metropolitan did not violate the Sherman Act precluded it from finding that Metropolitan violated chapter 93A, section 2. None of these grounds has merit. 53 First, Randolph's testimony regarding the January 1980 meeting was contradicted by the Metropolitan representatives in attendance. The court was plainly entitled, as it did, to accept the plaintiff's evidence and refuse to credit Randolph's testimony. 54 Second, there is little support for any duty on the part of Metropolitan to have informed Checkers in January of any intention to limit sales. The two cases cited by appellants, Nei v. Burley, 388 Mass. 307, 446 N.E.2d 674 (1983), and Grossman v. Waltham Chemical Co., 14 Mass.App. 932, 436 N.E.2d 1243 (1982), are factually dissimilar and provide little or no support for this argument. The court, moreover, could have inferred that Randolph and Checkers, who had had experience in the soft drink industry and had been engaged in a lengthy dispute with Coca Cola over a similar issue, were not unaware of Metropolitan's policies in this regard. 55 Finally, the district court never stated that the jury's finding that Metropolitan did not violate the Sherman Act precluded it from finding that Metropolitan had violated chapter 93A, section 2. 56 We have considered appellants' remaining arguments and find them likewise to be without merit. 57 Affirmed.