Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/442/330/case.html
Timestamp: 2016-09-25 22:36:26
Document Index: 19777560

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 15', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 7', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4']

Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. :: 442 U.S. 330 (1979) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
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Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. 442 U.S. 330 (1979)
U.S. Supreme CourtReiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U.S. 330 (1979)Reiter v. Sonotone Corp.No. 78-690Argued April 25, 1979Decided June 11, 1979442 U.S. 330CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
(b) Monetary injury, standing alone, may be injury in one's "property" within the meaning of § 4. Chattanooga Foundry & Pipe Works Page 442 U. S. 331 v. Atlanta, 203 U. S. 390. Thus, the fact that petitioner was deprived of only money is no reason to conclude that she did not sustain a "property" injury. Pp. 442 U. S. 339-340.
BURGER, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all other Members joined, except BRENNAN, J., who took no part in the decision of the case. REHNQUIST, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 442 U. S. 345. Page 442 U. S. 334
We granted certiorari to decide whether consumers who pay a higher price for goods purchased for personal use as a result of antitrust violations sustain an injury in their "business or property" within the meaning of § 4 of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 731, 15 U.S. C § 15. Page 442 U. S. 335
The District Court held that, under § 4, a retail purchaser is injured in "property" if the purchaser can show that antitrust violations caused an increase in the price paid for the article purchased. The District Court relied on Chattanooga Foundry & Pipe Works v. Atlanta, 203 U. S. 390, 203 U. S. 396 (1906), and the legislative history of the Clayton Act set forth in Brunswick Corp. v. Pueblo Bowl-O-Mat, Inc., 429 U. S. 477, Page 442 U. S. 336 429 U. S. 486 n. 10 (1977), indicating that Congress intended to give a § 4 remedy to consumers. 435 F.Supp. 933, 935-938 (Minn. 1977).
579 F.2d at 1087. Page 442 U. S. 337
"'The Act is comprehensive in its terms and coverage, protecting all who are made victims of the forbidden practices Page 442 U. S. 338 by whomever they may be perpetrated.' Mandeville Island Farms, Inc. v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U. S. 219, 334 U. S. 236; cf. Perma Life Mufflers, Inc. v. International Parts Corp., 392 U. S. 134, 392 U. S. 138-139. And the legislative history of the Sherman Act demonstrates that Congress used the phrase 'any person' intending it to have its naturally broad and inclusive meaning. There was no mention in the floor debates of any more restrictive definition."
That strained construction would have us ignore the disjunctive "or" and rob the term "property" of its independent Page 442 U. S. 339 and ordinary significance; moreover, it would convert the noun "business" into an adjective. In construing a statute, we are obliged to give effect, if possible, to every word Congress used. United States v. Menasche, 348 U. S. 528, 348 U. S. 538-539 (1955). Canons of construction ordinarily suggest that terms connected by a disjunctive be given separate meanings, unless the context dictates otherwise; here it does not. See FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U. S. 726, 438 U. S. 739-740 (1978). Congress' use of the word "or" makes plain that "business" was not intended to modify "property," nor was "property" intended to modify "business."
Indeed, this Court indicated as much in Chattanooga Foundry & Pipe Works v. Atlanta, 203 U. S. 390 (1960). There the city alleged that the anticompetitive conduct of the defendants Page 442 U. S. 340 had caused the city to pay more for water pipes purchased for use in the city's water system. The defendants answered that the pecuniary injury resulting from the alleged overcharges did not injure the city in its "business or property" within the meaning of § 4. This Court, without relying on the fact that the city was engaged in a business enterprise, stated:
Nor does her status as a "consumer" change the nature of Page 442 U. S. 341 the injury she suffered or the intrinsic meaning of "property" in § 4. That consumers of retail goods and services have standing to sue under § 4 is implicit in our decision in Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 421 U. S. 773, 421 U. S. 780, 782 (1975). There we held that a bar association was subject to a treble damages suit brought under § 4 by persons who sought legal services in connection with the purchase of a residence. Furthermore, we have often referred to "consumers" as parties entitled to seek damages under § 4 without intimating that consumers of goods and services purchased for personal, rather than commercial, use were in any way foreclosed by the statutory language from asserting an injury in their "property." E.g., Pfizer Inc. v. Government of India, 434 U.S. at 434 U. S. 313-315; Brunswick Corp. v. Pueblo Bowl-O-Mat, Inc., 429 U.S. at 429 U. S. 486 n. 10; Hanover Shoe, Inc. v. United Shoe Machinery Corp., 392 U. S. 481, 392 U. S. 494 (1968); Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 334 U. S. 219, 334 U. S. 236 (1948).
However, the language of an opinion is not always to be parsed as though we were dealing with language of a statute. Use of the phrase "commercial interests or enterprises," read in context, in no sense suggests that only injuries to a business entity are within the ambit of § 4. Respondents ignore the Court's careful use of the disjunctive and the naturally broad meaning of the term "interests" in Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co., supra. The phrase "commercial interests" was used there as a generic reference to the interests of the Page 442 U. S. 342 State of Hawaii as a party to a commercial transaction. This is apparent from Hawaii's explicit reaffirmance of the rule of Chattanooga Foundry and statement that, here, injury to a state "occurs in its capacity as a consumer in the marketplace" through a "payment of money wrongfully induced," treble damages are recoverable by a state under the Clayton Act. Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co., supra, at 405 U. S. 263 n. 14. A central premise of our holding in Hawaii was concern over duplicative recoveries. We noted that a "large and ultimately indeterminable part of the injury to the general economy'" for which the State sued was "no more than a reflection of injuries to the `business or property' of consumers" for which, on a proper showing, they could recover in their own right. 405 U.S. at 405 U. S. 263-264.
Nothing in the legislative history of § 4 conflicts with our holding today. Many courts and commentators have observed that the respective legislative histories of § 4 of the Clayton Act and § 7 of the Sherman Act, its predecessor, shed no light on Congress' original understanding of the terms "business or property." [Footnote 4] Nowhere in the legislative record Page 442 U. S. 343 is specific reference made to the intended scope of those terms. Respondents engage in speculation in arguing that the substitution of the terms "business or property" for the broader language originally proposed by Senator Sherman [Footnote 5] was clearly intended to exclude pecuniary injuries suffered by those who purchase goods and services at retail for personal use. None of the subsequent floor debates reflect any such intent. On the contrary, they suggest that Congress designed the Sherman Act as a "consumer welfare prescription." R. Bork, The Antitrust Paradox 66 (1978). Certainly the leading proponents of the legislation perceived the treble damages remedy of what is now § 4 as a means of protecting consumers from overcharges resulting from price fixing. E.g., 21 Cong.Rec. 2457, 2460, 2558 (1890). Because Congress, in 1890, rejected a proposal to allow a group of consumers to bring a collective action as a class, some legislators questioned whether individual consumers would be willing to bring actions for relatively small amounts. See, e.g., id. at 1767-1768, 569, 2612, 3147-3148, 3150. At no time, however, was the right of a consumer to bring an action for damages questioned. [Footnote 6]
"conceived primarily as 'open[ing] the door of justice Page 442 U. S. 344 to every man . . . and giv[ing] the injured party ample damages for the wrong suffered.'"
Finally, respondents argue that the cost of defending consumer class actions will have a potentially ruinous effect on small businesses in particular, and will ultimately be paid by Page 442 U. S. 345 consumers in any event. These are not unimportant considerations, but they are policy considerations more properly addressed to Congress than to this Court. However accurate respondents' arguments may prove to be -- and they are not without substance -- they cannot govern our reading of the plain language in § 4.
ante at 442 U. S. 336, is by no means an unfounded one. And pronouncements from this Court exhorting district courts to be "especially alert to identify frivolous Page 442 U. S. 346 claims brought to extort nuisance settlements" will not be a complete solution for those courts which are actually on the firing line in this type of litigation. Ante at 442 U. S. 345. But I fully agree that we must take the statute as Congress wrote it, and I also fully agree with the Court's construction of the phrase "business or property." I think that the Court's observation, ante at 442 U. S. 343 n. 6, that "the treble damages remedy of § 4 took on new practical significance for consumers with the advent of Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 23" is a miracle of understatement; and in the absence of any jurisdictional limit, there is considerable doubt in my mind whether this type of action is indeed ultimately of primary benefit to consumers themselves, who may recover virtually no monetary damages, as opposed to the attorneys for the class, who stand to obtain handsome rewards for their services. Be that as it may, the problem, if there is one, is for Congress, and not for the courts.