Opinion ID: 468173
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Standing Requirement

Text: 9 In In re Industrial Gas Antitrust Litigation (Bichan), 681 F.2d 514, 515 (7th Cir.1982), this Court noted that analysis of whether a plaintiff may bring a treble damages antitrust action against a defendant is two-fold. First, it is necessary to determine whether the plaintiff has suffered an antitrust injury and second whether the plaintiff is the proper party to bring the action. Id. at 515. Thus this Court specifically distinguished between the requirements of antitrust injury and a proper antitrust plaintiff. Whether a plaintiff is permitted to bring suit as a proper party necessitates the use of standing tests, such as the target area test. Id. at 516. But the Bichan Court then went on to analyze the antitrust injury prong under the target area test (id. at 517), a test more appropriate for determining when a plaintiff is too remote to be entitled to recover. Insofar as Bichan recognizes the concepts as analytically distinct, we adhere to this analysis. 10 The issue of antitrust standing has become somewhat confused. Some courts have considered antitrust injury as an additional element of standing, e.g., John Lenore & Co. v. Olympia Brewing Co., 550 F.2d 495 (9th Cir.1977), while others have considered the two requirements as analytically distinct. Amey, Inc. v. Gulf Abstract & Title, Inc., 758 F.2d 1486, 1500 (11th Cir.1985); Bichan, 681 F.2d at 515; Industrial Inv. Dev. Corp. v. Mitsui & Co., 671 F.2d 876, 888 (5th Cir.1982); Engine Specialties, Inc. v. Bombardier Ltd., 605 F.2d 1, 12 n. 16 (1st Cir.1979), certiorari denied, 446 U.S. 983, 100 S.Ct. 2964, 64 L.Ed.2d 839; Pollock v. Citrus Assoc., 512 F.Supp. 711, 718 (S.D.N.Y.1981); Handler, Changing Trends In Antitrust Doctrines: An Unprecedented Supreme Court Term--1977, 77 COLUM.L.REV. 979, 997 (1977). The Supreme Court failed to clarify the issue in Associated General by incorporating a Brunswick-type analysis in its consideration of whether a plaintiff is a proper party. That case, however, dealt with remoteness and the Court was examining the general nature of the plaintiff's injury as a standing factor. In fact, the Court in Associated General noted only that collective bargaining agreements tended to lessen competition without specifically finding that the particular contract did, and thus concluded that unions were typically not the most effective and deserving plaintiffs. Id. 459 U.S. at 540, 103 S.Ct. at 909. Inasmuch as Associated General relies on Brunswick for support, we note its antitrust injury requirement is reaffirmed and therefore we rely on it as well.