Miranda v. Selig

Baseball’s antitrust exemption barred an antitrust suit by minor league players claiming teams illegally colluded in setting their salaries.  Baseball’s antitrust exemption continues to be enforced in this suit by minor league baseball players for collusion in setting player salaries.  Minor leagues serve as a talent pool and training source for major league teams which…

SolarCity Corp. v. Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement & Power Dist.

An order denying a motion to dismiss an antitrust action based on state action immunity is not immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.  Disagreeing with the 11th Circuit and instead following the Fourth and Sixth Circuits, this decision holds that an order denying a motion to dismiss an antitrust action based on state action…

Wortman v. All Nippon Airways

Genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether three foreign airline defendants could invoke the filed rate doctrine as a defense to an antitrust lawsuit, since it was not clear whether the federal Department of Transportation actually regulated rates for foreign carriers or merely paid lip service to that policy.  Questions of fact existed…

In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation

Plaintiffs who purchased applications from Apple’s App Store are direct purchasers from Apple and can sue it for monopolizing the market for distribution of applications that run on the iPhone.  Following the Third and Tenth Circuits and declining to follow contrary Seventh Circuit precedent, this decision holds that Rule 12(h)(2) generally bars a defendant from…

Aerotec Int’l, Inc. v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc.

Summary judgment is affirmed in favor of defendant in antitrust suit by competitor who claimed without sufficient supporting evidence that defendant had illegal exclusive dealing contracts and that its contracts were of such long duration as to unduly restrict the market.  Honeywell sells about 74% of the Auxilliary Power Units (“APUs”) used by airlines to…

In re Automobile Antitrust Cases I and II

In an antitrust suit claiming car manufacturers conspired to keep their lower priced but otherwise identical cars sold in Canada from being exported to the United States where they could be sold for less than the same models sold for the United States market, summary judgment was properly granted to Ford US  because there was…