The Hedgecock courts rejected that argument because the BMWD is in fact a public entity performing such governmental functions as water acquisition, allocation and distribution among landowners in the district. By law, water districts must maintain water facilities, raise revenues, and impose liens, and may exercise broad-ranging police powers. The Supreme Court also held that the existence of a conspiracy between a governmental entity and private parties does not create an exception to antitrust immunity. Similarly, the federal district and appellate courts found that Blackwell and the Paramount defendants, which exerted influence over the BMWD's board through their appointed representatives, were immune under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. The doctrine is a corollary to the state action immunity doctrine and provides antitrust immunity for the conduct of private individuals seeking action from the government which will result in restraints on competition.
Political motives are irrelevant.
Typical examples of protected activities are lobbying efforts which may harm a competitor's interests and the filing of bona fide lawsuits against one's competitors. Because plaintiffs had admitted that the acts of the two defendant landowners were efforts to influence government action by influencing or controlling the water district's decisions regarding water transfers, assessments, and foreclosures, the federal district and appellate courts held that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine by definition applied. The Blackwell and the Paramount defendants were essentially seeking government action. Accordingly, the courts found that even if they accepted as true plaintiffs' theory that the ultimate goal of the landowner defendants was to harm competing landowners, antitrust immunity applied because the defendant landowners sought to achieve that goal through governmental action. The Hedgecock decision is significant because it examines potential antitrust liability for decisions by water districts relating to proposed water transfers, as well as other regular activities of water districts, i.e. , imposing taxes and foreclosing on properties where taxes are delinquent.