The Shell Company (Puerto Rico) Limited v. Los Frailes Service Station, Inc., 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 9311 (1st Cir. 5-6-10)

Dealer Appellee argued that the termination of its franchise by Shell was unreasonable under an objective analysis, because Shell's actions were the ultimate cause of the dealer's admitted commingling, closure of the station and failure to timely pay for fuel. The First Circuit, like the Fourth, has previously held that the occurrence of events enumerated under 15 U.S.C. 2802(b)(2)(c) are per se reasonable grounds for termination. However, the Court held that it did not need to analyze the wisdom of its prior holding to this effect, since it found that the District Court did not clearly err in its factual finding that the record evidence established that the dealer's inability to pay had causes clearly unrelated to the complained of actions on the part of Shell.