Frank Shop, Inc. v. Crown Central Petroleum Corp.

In this appeal involving the Virginia Petroleum Products Franchise Act, Code §§ 59.1-21.8 through -21.18.1 (“the Act”), we consider whether a gasoline service station presently owned by Crown Central Petroleum Corporation (“Crown”), located less than one and one-half miles from a station owned by Exxon U.S.A. and leased by Frank Shop, Inc. (“Frank Shop”), is protected by the “grandfather clause” of the Act, Code § 59.1-21.16:2(E). Because we hold that the trial court erred in the admission of certain documentary evidence and that the exclusion of such evidence results in a failure of proof…