11 Additional Litigation Successes Persian Gulf, Inc. v. BP West Coast Products LLC, et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-01749-LAGS (S.D. Cal.); Bartlett, et al. v. BP West Coast Products LLC, 3:18-cv-01374-L-AGS (S.D. Cal.) Alleged conspiracy in violation of the Sherman Act and California’s Cartwright Act The district court granted the defendants’ joint motion for summary judgment on all antitrust claims. Claims Outcome Plaintiffs (a retail gasoline station and three consumers who purchased gasoline at retail stations) had sued ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. (“ExxonMobil”) in two putative class actions, alleging that ExxonMobil and seven other gasoline refiners in California conspired to fix gasoline prices at artificially high levels from 2012 to 2020. Early in the case, O’Melveny led the joint-defense effort to defeat a motion to remand, then launched an aggressive discovery strategy that included multiple third-party subpoenas and depositions. O’Melveny also served a Rule 11 letter that forced plaintiffs to strike key allegations against ExxonMobil. As a result, plaintiffs shifted their focus away from ExxonMobil, originally their main target. O’Melveny also drafted a successful motion to strike a plaintiff-side expert’s opinions on diesel, which eliminated $15 billion in potential damages. And O’Melveny coordinated the joint-defense efforts on Daubert briefing related to the plaintiffs’ liability expert. Though it ultimately denied that Daubert motion as moot, the court agreed with ExxonMobil’s arguments that the expert’s opinions were largely irrelevant and unhelpful on key issues, and on that basis held that the expert’s opinions were insufficient to withstand summary judgment. The Winning Strategy Spanning several years, this litigation included many twists and turns, with O’Melveny at the center of nearly all critical motions and decisions. In September 2022, the court granted the defendants’ joint motion for summary judgment on all claims, finding no genuine dispute of material facts on the existence of a conspiracy or causation. The summary judgment victory ended a lengthy and hard-fought antitrust litigation that threatened astronomic damages. Acting as a critical contributor to the joint-defense efforts while notching wins for ExxonMobil on the basis of its unique circumstances, O’Melveny displayed a deft and strategic approach to discovery and motion practice. Why It Matters $30 billion in claimed damages against all major California gasoline refiners. What Was at Stake
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