Coastal Fuels of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Caribbean Petroleum Corp. (79 F.3d 182, 1996)

TORRUELLA, Chief Judge.

This appeal involves claims of price discrimination, 15 U.S.C. § 13(a) (1994); 10 L.P.R.A. § 263 (1976), monopolization, 15 U.S.C. § 2 (1994); 10 L.P.R.A. § 260 (1976), and Puerto Rico law tort, 31 L.P.R.A. § 5141 (1976), brought against appellant Caribbean Petroleum Corp. by appellee Coastal Fuels of Puerto Rico, Inc. After a jury trial, the district court entered judgment for $5,000,-000 — $1.5 million in antitrust damages trebled plus $500,000 in tort damages. CAPE-CO seeks that the judgment of the district court be reversed and judgment be granted to CAPECO on all counts, or alternatively, that the judgment be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. We affirm the price discrimination and Puerto Rico law tort verdicts, as well as the tort damage verdict. However, we reverse the monopolization verdict, vacate the antitrust damages verdict, and accordingly remand for further proceedings on price discrimination damages.

BACKGROUND

We relate the evidentiary background in the light most favorable to the jury verdicts. See Kerr-Selgas v. American Airlines, Inc., 69 F.3d 1205, 1206 (1st Cir.1995).

Coastal Fuels of Puerto Rico, Inc. (“Coastal”) was formed in 1989 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coastal Fuels Marketing, Inc. (“CFMI”), a company that ran marine fuel operations in numerous ports using a staff of sales agents in Miami, Florida. Caribbean Petroleum Corp. (“CAPECO”) owns and operates a refinery in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, which produces a number of fuel products, as well as residual fuel. A principal use of residual fuel is in the production of “bunker fuel,” which is used by cruise ships and other ocean-going vessels outfitted with internal combustion or steam engines.

At trial, Coastal introduced testimony and letters showing that CAPECO had committed to supply Coastal on the same terms and conditions as other resellers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1990, but Coastal deferred the start of its operations because of uncertainty due to the Gulf War. Eventually, Coastal began business operations in Puerto Rico in October 1991, buying bunker fuel in San Juan and reselling it to ocean-going liners at berth in San Juan Harbor. Based on CFMI’s experience and reputation, Coastal produced a business plan which shows that it expected to reach a sales volume of 100,000 barrels a month, approximately 25-30% of the sales volume in San Juan Harbor. The plan also shows that Coastal assumed it could obtain an average gross margin (sales revenues less product costs) of $1.65 a barrel.

In September 1991, CAPECO agreed to charge Coastal prices based on a formula involving the previous Thursday/Friday New York market postings, minus discounts that varied by volume. These prices were to cover the six month period from October 1991 to March 1992. Unknown to Coastal, CAPECO was almost simultaneously offering Coastal’s two competitors in San Juan Harbor, Caribbean Fuel OÜ Trading, Iric. (“Caribbean”) and Harbor Fuel Services, Inc. (“Harbor”), new contracts that gave Caribbean and Harbor bigger discounts from the formula price than Coastal received. Trial evidence introduced by CAPECO’s own expert witness quantified the total price discrimination in favor of Caribbean and Harbor as $682,451.78 for the period from October 1991 to April 1992.

Coastal filed this suit in May of 1992 when it learned of CAPECO’s price discrimination against it. This court affirmed the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction requiring that CAPECO end its price discrimination. See Coastal Fuels of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Caribbean Petroleum Corp., 990 F.2d 25, 26 (1st Cir.1993). After Coastal filed suit, CAPECO proposed a new price formula to Coastal. According to trial testimony introduced by Coastal, CAPECO basically made a “take it or leave it” offer, which Coastal took. Expert testimony Coastal offered at trial contended that competitively significant price discrimination continued until Spring of 1993, when CAPECO cut Coastal off entirely.

Additionally, Coastal presented evidence that, while throughout this period CAPECO would from time to time inform Coastal that it had no fuel available, in fact, CAPECO had available fuel. Coastal also presented evidence that it was discriminated against in terms of the quality of fuel that it received from CAPECO. Finally, on March 31, 1993, CAPECO informed Coastal in writing that it would not sell any more product to Coastal, and shortly thereafter, Coastal went out of business.

The case was tried to a jury on claims (1) that CAPECO discriminated in price in violation of Section 2(a) of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 730 (1914) (current version at 15 U.S.C. § 13(a)), as amended by the Robinson-Pat-man Act, 49 Stat. 1526 (1936), and in violation of Section 263(a) of Title 10 of the Laws of Puerto Rico; (2) that CAPECO monopolized trade or commerce in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 260 of Title 10 of the Laws of Puerto Rico; (3) that CAPE-CO violated Section 5141 of Title 31 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code by engaging in tor-tious conduct that injured Coastal; and (4) that CAPECO committed a breach of contract in violation of Sections 3371 et seq. of Title 31 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code. As reflected in the jury’s answers to the Special Interrogatories, the jury found for Coastal on the first three of these claims, but found for CAPECO on the breach of contract claim. The jury awarded damages of $1,500,000 for the antitrust violations combined and $500,-0QP for the Puerto Rico tort violation. The antitrust damages were trebled, see 15 U.S.C. § 15(a), bringing the total award to $5,000,000.

DISCUSSION

CAPECO argues for a reversal of the district court’s judgment, or alternatively, for a new trial. We address the arguments for reversal first.

I. Arguments for Reversal

The first set of issues involves the district court’s denial of CAPECO’s motions for judgment as a matter of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50. With respect to matters of law, our review is de novo. Sandy River Nursing Care v. Aetna Casualty, 985 F.2d 1138, 1141 (1st Cir.1993).

Seeking judgment as a matter of law, CA-PECO has raised a set of issues on appeal that concern the application of federal and Puerto Rico law on price discrimination and monopoly, as well as Puerto Rico tort law, to the facts of this case. With respect to these issues, we review the court’s decision de novo, using the same stringent decisional standards that controlled the district court. See Sullivan v. National Football League, 34 F.3d 1091, 1096 (1st Cir.1994); Gallagher v. Wilton Enterprises, Inc., 962 F.2d 120, 125 (1st Cir.1992). Under these standards, judgment for CAPECO can only be ordered if the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to Coastal, points so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of CAPECO, that a reasonable jury could not have arrived at a verdict for Coastal. See Sullivan, 34 F.3d at 1096; Gallagher, 962 F.2d at 124-25.

A. Price Discrimination

Section 2(a) of the Clayton Act, amended in 1936 by the Robinson-Patman Act, makes it

unlawful for any person ... to discriminate in price between different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality, where either or any of the purchases involved in such discrimination are in commerce, ... where the effect of such discrimination may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination. ...

15 U.S.C. § 13(a). A pair of sales at different prices makes out a prima facie case. See Falls City Indus., Inc. v. Vanco Beverage, Inc., 460 U.S. 428, 444 n. 10, 103 S.Ct. 1282, 1293 n. 10, 75 L.Ed.2d 174 (1983); FTC v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 363 U.S. 536, 549, 80 S.Ct. 1267, 1274, 4 L.Ed.2d 1385 (1960) (“[A] price discrimination within the meaning of [the statute] is merely a price difference.”).

Section 2(a) includes two offenses that differ substantially, but are covered by the same statutory language. A “primary-fine” violation occurs where the discriminating seller’s price discrimination adversely impacts competition with the seller’s direct competitors. See, e.g., Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 509 U.S. 209, 219-21, 113 S.Ct. 2578, 2586, 125 L.Ed.2d 168, reh’g denied, - U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 13, 125 L.Ed.2d 765 (1993). See generally Herbert Hovenkamp, Federal Antitrust Policy: The Law of Competition and its Practice § 8.8 (1994). In contrast, a “secondary-fine” violation occurs where the discriminating seller’s price discrimination injures competition among his customers, that is, purchasers from the seller. See, e.g., FTC v. Sun Oil Co., 371 U.S. 505, 519, 83 S.Ct. 358, 366, 9 L.Ed.2d 466 (1963); Caribe BMW, Inc. v. Bayerische Motoren Werke, A.G., 19 F.3d 745, 748 (1st Cir.1994); J.F. Feeser, Inc. v. Serv-A-Portion, Inc., 909 F.2d 1524, 1535-38 (3d Cir.1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 921, 111 S.Ct. 1313, 113 L.Ed.2d 246 (1991). See generally Hovenkamp § 14.6. The theory of injury is generally that the defendant’s lower price sales to the plaintiffs competitor (the favored purchaser) placed the plaintiff at a competitive disadvantage and caused it to lose business. Id.

We address first CAPECO’s contention that the district court erred in treating this case as one of secondary-fine price discrimination rather than primary-line price discrimination. Specifically, CAPECO protests the district court’s instruction to the jury that injury to competition among competing purchaser-resellers may be inferred from proof of substantial price discrimination by a producer among competing purchaser-resellers, an inference appropriate to secondary-line discrimination. See FTC v. Morton Salt Co., 334 U.S. 37, 50-51, 68 S.Ct. 822, 830, 92 L.Ed. 1196 (1948). CAPECO argues that Coastal is affiliated with an organization that competes with CAPECO, and therefore this was a primary-line case; as a result, the Morton Salt inference would not apply.

We do not consider the argument that this is a primary-line case, because CAPECO has chosen to make this argument for the first time on appeal. While CAPECO did object to the Morton Salt instruction at the district court, that objection was directed at the use of the word “infer” couched in a generalized attack on the instruction as suggesting a presumption not borne out by case law. We have noted before that “Rule 51 means what it says: the grounds for objection must be stated ‘distinctly’ after the charge to give the judge an opportunity to correct his [or her] error.” Linn v. Andover Newton Theological School, Inc., 874 F.2d 1, 5 (1st Cir.1989); see also Jordan v. United States Lines, Inc., 738 F.2d 48, 51 (1st Cir.1984). Leaving aside whether the district court in fact erred in making the questioned instruction, it seems clear that CAPECO did not set forth the argument it now advances when it objected to the instruction at issue. And if CAPECO did intend to express this argument, it neither advised the district court judge of this problem in a manner that would allow him to make a correction, nor informed him what a satisfactory cure would be. Linn, 874 F.2d at 5. Because the argument was thus not preserved, we will reverse or award a new trial only if the error “resulted in a miscarriage of justice or ‘seriously affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.’ ” Scarfo v. Cabletron Systems, Inc., 54 F.3d 931, 945 (1st Cir.1995) (quoting Lash v. Cutts, 943 F.2d 147, 152 (1st Cir.1991)). We fail to find such concerns of judicial propriety implicated here.

As a result, we analyze this case as one of secondary-line discrimination. Thus, the theory of injury is that CAPECO sold bunker fuel to Coastal at an unfavorable price relative to Harbor and Caribbean, and consequently, competition between Coastal, Harbor and Caribbean was thereby injured. On appeal, CAPECO makes three arguments based on what it purports to be required elements for Coastal’s price discrimination damages claim: first, that the sales in question were not “in commerce” and so section 2(a)’s prohibitions do not apply; second, that Coastal failed to make the requisite showing of competitive injury to prevail; and third, that Coastal failed to carry its burden of proving actual injury in order to be entitled to an award of money damages.

1. “In Commerce”

CAPECO argues, correctly we conclude, that section 2(a) of the Clayton Act does not apply because in the instant case, neither of the two transactions which evidence the alleged price discrimination crossed a state line. Gulf Oil Corp. v. Copp Paving Co., 419 U.S. 186, 200-201, 200 n. 17, 95 S.Ct. 392, 401, 401 n. 17, 42 L.Ed.2d 378 (1974). For a transaction to qualify, the product at issue must physically cross a state boundary in either the sale to the favored buyer or the sale to the buyer allegedly discriminated against. See, e.g., Misco, Inc. v. United States Steel Corp., 784 F.2d 198, 202 (6th Cir.1986); Black Gold Ltd. v. Rockwool Industries, Inc., 729 F.2d 676, 683 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 854, 105 S.Ct. 178, 83 L.Ed.2d 113 (1984); William Inglis & Sons Baking Co. v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 668 F.2d 1014, 1043-44 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 825, 103 S.Ct. 57, 74 L.Ed.2d 61 (1982); S & M Materials Co. v. Southern Stone Co., 612 F.2d 198, 200 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 832, 101 S.Ct. 101, 66 L.Ed.2d 37 (1980); Rio Vista Oil, Ltd. v. Southland Corp., 667 F.Supp. 757, 763 (D.Utah 1987).

However, this issue is not dispositive, because the jury found that CAPECO violated the Puerto Rico price discrimination statute, which is identical to Section 2(a) except that it contains no interstate commerce requirement. CAPECO has not challenged the district court’s supplemental jurisdiction stemming from Coastal’s Sherman Act claims. The relevant statute states that “in any civil action over which the district courts have original jurisdiction, the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action ... that they form part of the same case or controversy.” 28 U.S.C. § 1367 (1994). In application, “[i]f, considered without regard to their federal or state character, a plaintiffs claims are such that [it] would ordinarily be expected to try them all in one judicial proceeding, then, assuming substan-tiality of the federal issues, there is power in federal courts to hear the whole.” United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218, (1966); see Rodríguez v. Doral Mortgage Corp., 57 F.3d 1168, 1175-76 (1st Cir.1995) (interpreting and applying 28 U.S.C. § 1367). In the instant ease, the price discrimination claims flow out of the same set of facts and require the same' evidence as the Sherman Act claims. Because we uphold the district court’s jurisdiction over the Sherman Act claims, see 15 U.S.C. § 4 (1994) (investing “[t]he several district courts of the United States ... with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of [Title 15] sections 1 to 7[,]” which includes the Sherman Act), we also must conclude that the district court properly exercised supplementary jurisdiction over the price discrimination claims.

Thus, we conclude that the district court erred in applying section 2(a) of the Clayton Act to the conduct at issue, and accordingly reverse that part of its opinion. However, we find applicable section 263 of the Puerto Rico Anti-Monopoly Act, 10 L.P.R.A. § 263. Because section 263 was patterned after and is almost identical to section 2(a) of the Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, we look to the jurisprudence interpreting federal law as a guide in applying the statute. Given that the one key difference between the federal and Puerto Rico statutes is the lack of an “in commerce” requirement in the Puerto Rico analogue, we conclude that we should interpret section 263 as intended to extend the provisions of section 2(a) of the Clayton Act to price discrimination within Puerto Rico, the situation which we confront in the instant case. Given the relative lack of applicable section 263 case law and the well-developed jurisprudence concerning Clayton Act section 2(a), we will focus on the latter in assessing the price discrimination claims.

2. Injury to Competition

CAPECO’s second argument in support of reversing the price discrimination portion of the judgment is that Coastal failed to demonstrate injury to competition. As noted above, we analyze this case as one of secondary-line price discrimination, and thus Coastal bears the burden of showing injury to competition between Coastal and its rival bunker fuel resellers, Harbor and Caribbean. Addressing the burden of the secondary-line plaintiff, the Supreme Court has stated that

[i]t would greatly handicap effective enforcement of the Act to require testimony to show that which we believe to be self-evident, namely, that there is a “reasonable possibility” that competition may be adversely affected by a practice under which manufacturers and producers sell their goods to some customers substantially cheaper than they sell like goods to the competitors of these customers.

Morton Salt Co., 334 U.S. at 50, 68 S.Ct. at 830. As a result, the Supreme Court has held that “for the purposes of section 2(a), injury to competition is established prima facie by proof of a substantial price discrimination between competing purchasers over time.” Falls City, 460 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1288 (citing Morton Salt, 334 U.S. at 46, 50-51, 68 S.Ct. at 828, 830); see also Texaco, Inc. v. Hasbrouck, 496 U.S. 543, 559, 110 S.Ct. 2535, 2544, 110 L.Ed.2d 492 (1990); Monahan’s Marine, Inc. v. Boston Whaler, Inc., 866 F.2d 525, 528-529 (1st Cir.1989) (noting lower burden for antitrust plaintiff under Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, than under Sherman Act); Boise Cascade Corp. v. FTC, 837 F.2d 1127, 1139 (D.C.Cir.1988).

CAPECO challenges the district court’s finding of competitive injury in two ways, arguing that the Morton Salt rule is no longer good law, or alternatively, that the Morton Salt rule was incorrectly applied in this ease. We first address CAPECO’s direct challenge to the vitality of the Morton Salt rule, a challenge based on the Supreme Court’s opinion in Brooke Group, 509 U.S. 209, 113 S.Ct. 2578. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that, because primary-line price discrimination injury is of the “same general character” as predatory pricing schemes actionable under Sherman Act section 2, Brooke Group, 509 U.S. at 221-23, 113 S.Ct. at 2587, a primary-line injury plaintiff bears the same substantive burden as under the Sherman Act, that is, the plaintiff must show that the predator stands some chance of recouping his losses, id. 509 U.S. at 223-24, 113 S.Ct. at 2588. In so deciding, the Supreme Court implicitly overruled Utah Pie Co. v. Continental Baking Co., 386 U.S. 685, 87 S.Ct. 1326, 18 L.Ed.2d 406 (1967), in which the Supreme Court had set forth different standards for primary-line injury. Brooke Group, 509 U.S. at 221-23, 113 S.Ct. at 2587 (explaining that Utah Pie was merely an “early judicial inquiry”).

According to CAPECO, the Supreme Court’s recent emphasis in Brooke Group on reconciling the area of price discrimination with other antitrust law requires that we find that the Morton Salt rule no longer is good law. CAPECO notes that both primary-line and secondary-line price discrimination are prohibited by the same language of section 2(a) as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act. Furthermore, CAPECO contends that the Supreme Court in Brooke Group apparently undercut any reliance on a principled distinction between the aims of section 2 of the Clayton Act and other antitrust laws’ purported emphasis on protecting “competition, not competitors,” Brooke Group, 509 U.S. at 224, 113 S.Ct. at 2588 (emphasis in original) (citation omitted); see also Monahan’s Marine, Inc., 866 F.2d at 528-29 (not discussing the Morton Salt rule, but noting that “unlike the Sherman Act, which protects ‘competition not competitors,’ ... the [Robinson-Patman] Act protects those who compete with a favored seller, not just the overall competitive process.” (emphasis in original)). Thus, according to CA-PECO, precedent that pre-dates Brooke Group and applies the Morton Salt rule must be reexamined. See, e.g., 496 U.S. at 544, 110 S.Ct. at 2537; Falls City, 460 U.S. at 436, 103 S.Ct. at 1289; Boise Cascade v. FTC, 837 F.2d 1127, 1153 (D.C.Cir.1988).

While CAPECO’s argument has merit, we join the two other circuits that have addressed competitive injury in secondary-line cases since Brooke Group in refusing to disregard the rule the Supreme Court formulated in Morton Salt, for three reasons. First, the statutory structure that prohibits primary-line price discrimination “stands on an entirely different footing” than the statutory scheme that proscribes secondary-line discrimination. See Rebel Oil Co., 51 F.3d at 1446. Congress first forbade primary-line price discrimination with the Clayton Act of 1914, which originally condemned discrimination that might “substantially ... lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce.” Clayton Antitrust Act, 38 Stat. 730 (1914) (codified as amended at 15 U.S.C. § 13(a) (1994)). The statute was intended to prevent large corporations from invading markets of small firms and charging predatory prices for the purpose of destroying marketwide competition, and thus specifically applied only to primary-line injury. See H.R.Rep. No. 627, 63rd Cong., 2d Sess. § 8 (1914); E. Thomas Sullivan & Jeffrey L. Harrison, Understanding Antitrust and Its Economic Implications § 8.03 (1988).

By contrast, secondary-line discrimination is forbidden by the Robinson-Patman Act, 49 Stat. 1526 (1936), 15 U.S.C. §§ 13-13b, 21a (1988), which amended the original Clayton Act’s price discrimination proscriptions. Congress clearly intended the Robinson-Pat-man Act’s provision to apply only to secondary-line eases, not to primary-line eases. See H.R.Rep. No. 2287, 74th Cong., 2d Sess. § 8 (1936), cited in Rebel Oil Co., 51 F.3d at 1446. In contrast to the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, which were intended to proscribe only conduct that threatens consumer welfare, the Robinson-Patman Act’s framers “intended to punish perceived economic evils not necessarily threatening to consumer welfare per se.” Rebel Oil Co., 51 F.3d at 1445. See generally Hovenkamp § 2.1a. In particular, the Robinson-Patman Act’s amendments to the Clayton Act stemmed from dissatisfaction with the original Clayton Act’s inability to prevent large retail chains from obtaining volume discounts from big suppliers, at the disadvantage of small retailers who competed with the chains. See S.Rep. No. 1502, 74th Cong., 2d Sess. § 4 (1936); H.R.Rep. No. 2287, 74th Cong., 2d Sess. §§ 3-4 (1936); see also Morton Salt, 334 U.S. at 49, 68 S.Ct. at 829 (“Congress intended to protect a merchant from competitive injury attributable to discriminatory prices”); Rebel Oil Co., 51 F.3d 1421, 1446; Monahan’s Marine, Inc., 866 F.2d at 528-29.

Second, we are persuaded by the reasoning of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Rebel Oil Co. that the amendment to the Clayton Act effected by the Robinson-Patman Act supports the continued vitality of the Morton Salt rule, even in the face of Brooke Group’s alteration of standards for primary-line price discrimination. While the Clayton Act only proscribed conduct that may “substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly!!,]” the new law added the following passage: “or to injure, destroy, or prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of either of them.” See Rebel Oil Co., 51 F.3d at 1447. The purpose of this passage was to relieve secondary-line plaintiffs — small retailers who are disfavored by discriminating suppliers— from having to prove harm to competition marketwide, allowing them instead to impose liability simply by proving effects on individual competitors. See id.; H.R.Rep. No. 2287, 74th Cong., 2d Sess. § 8 (1936). Such legislative intent directly supports maintaining the Morton Salt rule, which puts into practice Congress’ concern with placing the same burden on secondary-line plaintiffs that other antitrust plaintiffs face. Thus, the comparison that the Supreme Court drew between primary-line price discrimination and predatory pricing in Brooke Group stands on a different, and stronger, footing than any comparison that could be made between secondary-line price discrimination and other area of antitrust law, including, but not only, predatory pricing.

Third, and finally, the holding of the Brooke Group opinion on its face applies only to primary-line eases, not secondary-line cases. As a result, given the legislative history and statutory language distinctions, we will not presume, without more guidance, that the Supreme Court intended in Brooke Group to alter the well-established rule that it adopted in Morton Salt. Thus, we hold that the Morton Salt rule continues to apply to secondary-line injury eases such as the present one.

The Morton Salt rule provides that, for the purposes of secondary-line claims under section 2(a), “injury to competition is established prima facie by proof of a substantial price discrimination between competing purchasers over time.” Falls City Industries v. Vanco Beverage, Inc., 460 U.S. 428, 435, 103 S.Ct. 1282, 1288, 75 L.Ed.2d 174 (1983) (citing Morton Salt, 334 U.S. at 46, 50-51, 68 S.Ct. at 828, 830). If the plaintiff makes such a showing, then “[t]his inference may be overcome by evidence breaking the causal connection between a price differential and lost sales or profits.” Falls City, 460 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1288. Barring evidence breaking that connection, however, “for a[ ] plaintiff to prove competitive injury under Robinson-Patman, he [or she] need only show that a substantial price discrimination existed as between himself [or herself] and his [or her] competitors over a period of time.” Hasbrouck v. Texaco, Inc., 842 F.2d 1034, 1041 (9th Cir.1987), aff'd, 496 U.S. 543, 110 S.Ct. 2535, 110 L.Ed.2d 492 (1990).

Here the jury properly inferred prima fa-cie injury to competition since Coastal produced sufficient evidence before the jury to conclude (1) that the discrimination in question was continuous and substantial and (2) that the discrimination occurred in a business where profit margins were low and competition was keen. 4 Von Kalinowski, Antitrust Laws and Trade Regulation § 31.04(1). First, the discrimination lasted all 18 months that Coastal was in business, and always exceeded the five cents per barrel that witnesses testified was competitively significant. Additionally, there was ample testimony that the marine fuel oil business, in which Coastal competed against Caribbean and Harbor, was characterized by thin margins and intense competition. At any rate, on appeal, CAPECO does not make the argument that Coastal failed to produce evidence required for a prima facie showing of injury to competition under the Morton Salt rule.

However, CAPECO argues that the Morton Salt inference was undercut by evidence “breaking the causal connection” between CAPECO’s price discrimination and Coastal’s lost sales or profits, Falls City, 460 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1288, and showing an absence of competitive injury, Boise Cascade Corp. v. FTC, 837 F.2d 1127, 1146 (D.C.Cir.1988). According to CAPECO, overall market forces depressed the price for bunker fuel more than 30 percent between late 1991 and early 1992, and it was this fact, rather than CAPECO’s price discrimination, that led to Coastal’s demise. CAPECO points to the admission of Coastal’s CEO that Coastal’s sales agents based their price quotes to ships on the prices being charged by competitors in San Juan and other ports, often without even knowing the cost of the fuel that was to be delivered. According to CAPECO, if prices were set when costs were unknown, then discounts from CAPECO could not have been a material factor in setting prices.

We reject the argument that this evidence rebuts Coastal’s prima, facie showing of price discrimination. In reviewing the jury verdict, “[w]e are compelled ... even in a close case, to uphold the verdict unless the facts and inferences, when viewed in a light most favorable to the party for whom the jury held, point so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of the movant that a reasonable jury could not have arrived at this conclusion.” Chedd-Angier Production Co. v. Omni Publications Int’l Ltd., 756 F.2d 930, 934 (1st Cir.1985); see also Rodríguez v. Montalvo, 871 F.2d 163, 165 (1st Cir.1989); Castro v. Stanley Works, 864 F.2d 961, 963 (1st Cir.1989); Brown v. Freedman Baking Co., 810 F.2d 6, 12 (1st Cir.1987). Thus, in this case, the appellants must “persuade us that the facts of this case so conclusively point to a verdict in [their] favor that fair-minded people could not disagree about the outcome.” Chedd-Angier Production Co., 756 F.2d at 934.

Here, neither section 2(a), section 263, nor their attendant case law, requires that the price discrimination in question be directly factored into the prices that favored and disfavored purchaser-resellers offered to their customers. Presumably, regardless of whether these costs were factored directly into the prices that Coastal offered, or were later calculated into Coastal’s bottom line, these costs affected Coastal’s pricing. Certainly, no argument can be made from this evidence alone that bunker fuel costs, no matter when accounted for, were not causally connected to Coastal’s lost profits. See, e.g., Hasbrouck v. Texaco, Inc., 842 F.2d 1034, 1039-41 (9th Cir.1987), aff'd, 496 U.S. 543, 110 S.Ct. 2535, 110 L.Ed.2d 492 (1990) (finding that evidence that “some portion” of small extra discounts of 2