Federal Court Judgment Reversed Due To Evidentiary Error.

The Petroleum Marketing Practices Act [PMBA; 15 U.S.C. §§ 2801-2806] regulates oil franchises. During the trial of an action about allegations an oil company failed to make a bona fide offer to sell property, as required by the PMBA, an evidentiary issue arose. Plaintiff, the owner of a gas station franchise, testified he never reviewed a certain appraisal. The trial court rejected attempts by the lawyer for the oil company to impeach the witness with his deposition testimony because the deposition did not contain contrary evidence. A jury returned a plaintiff’s verdict for almost a half million dollars. The Ninth Circuit reversed, stating: “As a matter of first impression, we hold that when a party acts in conformity with the contents of a document—e.g., by giving an independent appraisal to a lender in support of accomplishing its objective to secure a commercial loan—such an action constitutes an adoption of the statements contained therein even if the party never reviewed the document’s contents. We further hold that such an action constitutes an adoption even if the third party never itself uses or relies on the document.” (Transbay Auto Serv. v. Chevron USA Inc. (Ninth Cir.; November 30, 2015) 807 F.3d 1113.)