In Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("MTBE") Products Liability Litigation

Filing 3630

DECLARATION of Wedeking in Support re: (157 in 1:04-cv-04973-SAS) MOTION for Summary Judgment for Lack of Evidence Pertaining to Causation.. Document filed by Coastal Chem, Inc.. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit #1, #2 Exhibit #2, #3 Exhibit #3, #4 Exhibit #4, #5 Exhibit #5, #6 Exhibit #6, #7 Exhibit #7, #8 Exhibit #8, #9 Exhibit #9)Filed In Associated Cases: 1:00-cv-01898-SAS-DCF, 1:04-cv-04973-SAS(Allen, Brent)

Exhibit 4

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

/

February 9, 2011

Page 1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
In re: Methyl Tertiary
) Master File No.
Butyl Ether ("MTBE")
) 1:00-1898
Products Liability Litigation )
) The Honorable Shira A.
) Scheindlin
)
This Document Relates To:
)
)
City of Fresno v. Chevron
)
U.S.A., Inc., et al, Case
)
No. 04 Civ. 4973
)
(SAS)
)
_)

DEPOSITION OF JOEL HOHENSHELT
Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 9:24 a.m.
Deposition Officer:
Patricia Coward, CSR No. 5142
Taken in the offices of:
The Radisson Hotel
2233 Ventura Street
Fresno, California

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 22
1

A.

Yes.

2

Q.

So was there a point that you took over the Red

3

Triangle Company?

4

A.

I don't quite understand.

5

Q.

Well, you mentioned your father is deceased.

6

A.

Yes.

7

Q.

So is there a point where you became the owner?

8

A.

Yes.

9

I was an employee for many years with him, became of

10

course a stockholder, and upon his demise, my sister

11

and I became the owner of the majority of the stock in

12

Red Triangle Oil Company.

13

a corporation, Intercity Petroleum Marketers,

14

Incorporated, dba Red Triangle Oil Company, doing

15

business as Red Triangle Oil Company.

16

Yes, it is.

I became the owner upon his -- I was a --

It was then called -- it was

When the Shehadeys purchased it, they wanted to

17

purchase the name Red Triangle, and I agreed to that,

18

so I took the corporation, because it had some assets

19

and -- on a piece of property, and I kept the

20

corporation.

21

Petroleum is still alive today.

22

Consultants, which was a corporation that I had formed

23

earlier on.

24

Q.

25

you're still the owner of Intercity Petroleum today?

It's still alive today.

Intercity

Only the dba is TTA

So let me see if I have this straight.

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

So

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 32
1

think what you described as the FEA handed you off to

2

Chevron; during that time, it sounded like you were,

3

you said resisting that with an injunction of some

4

kind.

5

A.

Yeah.

6

Q.

What was the station branded, if anything, at

7

that time?

8

A.

At that time, it was Gulf.

9

Q.

And after Gulf, was there another brand that

10

your station used?

11

A.

We branded our own station as Triangle.

12

Q.

Not Red Triangle?

13

A.

Well, it was Red Triangle.

14

had a Red Triangle in it.

15

Q.

16

brand?

17

A.

18

remember.

19

Q.

20

other brand being used?

21

A.

22

the Red Triangle brand, and, excuse me, and as far as I

23

know, one of their main suppliers is Valero.

24

Q.

25

Triangle, would that have been in the 1970's?

Just Triangle?
We had a -- our sign

What year did you start using that as your

I don't know.

I really don't know.

I can't

Subsequent to Red Triangle, have you gone to any

Well, that -- again, Shehadey took it over under

When it switched from being branded Gulf to Red

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

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1

A.

I can't be specific.

2

records and find out.

3

changed over, because at that -- during -- it was

4

before I went into business for myself; I do know that.

5

And after -- well, I have to look at my biography here.

6

Q.

Sure.

7

A.

After that, I've lost complete track of

8

everything.

9

Q.

Okay.

10

A.

Okay.

11

Q.

Not trying to have you guess.

12

you recall.

13

yourself, that's the construction business you

14

mentioned earlier?

15

A.

16

paving company to start with, and then later on I

17

became a construction inspector.

18

Q.

19

did they remain branded Red Triangle until the time you

20

sold to Mr. Shehadey?

21

A.

Yes.

22

Q.

Now, as far as where you were purchasing

23

gasoline from, you mentioned you were buying gas, I

24

think you said mainly by exchange agreements, but is

25

that something you were talking about as being several

Yes.

I'd have to go back in the

I don't know exactly when it

Now, we'll go to your biography again.

Just seeing if

When you say went into business for

I was a construction -- well, I had a

After the stations became branded Red Triangle,

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 48
1

Mr. Shehadey?

2

A.

3

small, four or five, maybe a little more, convenience

4

stores, and it was called Shop and Go, and they were

5

buying gasoline from us.

6

stations that we owned that they ran.

7

just a natural thing that they might be interested, and

8

I went to John, and he and I worked out a deal, and

9

then I basically asked John to loan me enough money to

We had service stations.

The Shehadeys owned a

And we had a couple of
And so it was

10

buy her out, and then we'd negotiate the deal.

And

11

that's exactly what we did.

12

Q.

13

interest and then --

14

A.

Well, it was a double escrow, all in the same

15

deal.

We all sat at the same table, the attorneys were

16

involved, the paperwork was handed around, and that was

17

the end of it.

18

Q.

19

basically you and your sister's interests all wound up

20

with Mr. Shehadey?

21

A.

Correct.

22

Q.

Now, I think you said earlier, was it in regard

23

to the 2809 South Chestnut, I thought you had said

24

something to the effect that you were still the owner?

25

A.

So you initially bought out your sister's

So then when that transaction occurred,

I am.

I'm still the owner.

When my dad had

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 64
1

A.

Manager.

2

Q.

-- manager?

3

of the property is Red Triangle Oil Company, and that's

4

with the name having been taken over by Mr. Shehadey?

5

A.

That's correct.

6

Q.

As far as underground storage tanks, are there

7

some there presently?

8

A.

No.

9

Q.

Do you know when they were removed?

10

A.

1998.

11

Q.

And I think we have some documents; again, not

12

just trying to test your memory on it.

13

tanks put back in after that date?

14

A.

15

underground tanks.

16

Q.

17

property after 1998?

18

A.

There -- I think there's one still, but it's not

19

used.

It's abandoned basically.

20

weed oil tank, to be honest with you.

21

been dug up.

22

Q.

23

are there aboveground?

24

A.

25

presently, and then Shehadey has an option to purchase

Right.

And so the current lessee

December of '98.

Were there any

There were tanks put back in, but they were not
They were aboveground tanks.

So have there been any underground tanks at the

And I think it was a
And it may have

I don't know.

So who has ownership of the current tanks that

Red Triangle.

I own the aboveground tanks right

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 71
1

recall, sold back in the 1970's?

2

A.

3

-- all gasoline was leaded back in those days.

4

had to -- in fact I went to the Small Business

5

Administration and got a loan to go around to all the

6

gas stations and clean the tanks for -- preparing them

7

for, quote, unquote, "unleaded gasoline."

8

involved then, but that's way back.

9

Q.

Yeah, there were leaded -- leaded -- there was
And we

So I was

About how many stations did Red Triangle have at

10

its peak?

11

A.

12

Gulf bland or the Red Triangle brand at one time

13

probably, and scattered over three or four counties,

14

something like maybe 50 or 60 gas stations.

15

Q.

16

other stations besides at 2809 South Chestnut?

17

A.

18

sold to the Shehadeys and -- in the sale deal.

19

Q.

Were there any others in Fresno?

20

A.

Well, let's see.

21

Cedar, and Gettysburg is one that was sold to them.

22

There was a total of about five, but they're not in

23

Fresno.

24

I'd have to sit down with the list and go through them

25

again, so.

Well, flying either the Wilshire brand or the

At the time you sold to Mr. Shehadey, were there

Yes.

There were a number of stations that were

There's one in Clovis, there's

There's Kingsburg, there's Kettleman City, so

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 80
1

in those approximate locations?

2

A.

3

they're -- you know, there's no room on this thing for

4

scaling.

5

the left than the drawing shows, but yeah, those were

6

two 20,000-propane tanks that, when I was there, were

7

installed.

8

Q.

9

toward where, for example, the number 135 is written?

Yeah.

The locations are not correct, but

Those tanks set quite a bit over farther to

When you say farther to the left, so it would be

10

A.

Yes, yes, it would be over farther.

It was not

11

in line with those tanks.

12

Q.

13

started to talk about what happened at the box labeled

14

"Loading rack."

15

A.

Uh-huh.

16

Q.

You said there were, I think you said, smaller

17

trucks loaded?

18

A.

19

tankers would pick up the fuel, bring it in, put it in

20

these tanks here, and then it would subsequently be

21

loaded onto smaller tank -- trucks that went out in the

22

field and delivered fuel to farm and commercial

23

accounts.

24

Q.

25

happened at the time you left the Red Triangle in the

Now, let me ask you, can you describe for us, we

Yeah.

Well, what happened there would be, our

Now, at the time -- I think we talked about what

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]

Deposition of Joel Hohenshelt

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February 9, 2011

Page 81
1

1970's.

During, say the 1980's and '90's, did you have

2

any knowledge as to where Red Triangle was buying its

3

gasoline from?

4

A.

No, I did not.

5

Q.

At the time when your father passed away and you

6

were arranging the sale to Mr. Shehadey, did you obtain

7

any information as to where Red Triangle was buying its

8

gasoline from at that time?

9

A.

No, I did not.

10

Q.

You described earlier that there was a -- the

11

pipeline initially, I think you said to Bakersfield,

12

later that was run up to Fresno; is that right?

13

A.

14

refineries in Bakersfield.

15

going down there with my dad to pick up gasoline in a

16

truck.

17

one, two or three other refineries were hooked up to

18

that pipeline and put fuel to Fresno through the

19

Southern Pacific pipeline.

20

Q.

21

did you ever hear or learn that that later became known

22

as the Kinder-Morgan pipeline?

23

A.

It was sold, as I understand it, yes.

24

Q.

Did you have any knowledge or information as to

25

whether Red Triangle was continuing to buy gasoline

Apparently that's what happened.

There were

I can remember as a kid

Eventually the pipeline was put in, and then

When you mentioned Southern Pacific pipeline,

DEPOBOOK REPORTING SERVICES [phone]