Opinion ID: 329749
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: defendant's statutory authority

Text: 16 Several Pennsylvania statutes relate to the powers and authority of defendant municipal corporations. Defendant County of Allegheny was organized under 16 P.S. § 3101 Et seq. (1956), as a Second Class County. It is granted the usual powers of a county government under 16 P.S. § 3202 (1956), and is specifically empowered to establish airports and terminal facilities under 16 P.S. §§ 5401-5408 (1956). In particular the County is given the power, in § 5404, to: 17 . . . enter into agreements in the form of a lease, permit, license, concession or otherwise for the use of the (airport or terminal facilities) or part thereof, for any adequate consideration, with any person or corporation desiring to use the same for any navigation and terminal purpose or of any air navigation and terminal facility . . . . 18 The County is additionally authorized to incorporate public auditorium authorities under the Public Auditorium Authorities Law, 53 P.S. § 23841 Et seq. (1957). 19 Defendants Public Auditorium Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County and Stadium Authority of Pittsburgh were both created under the Public Auditorium Authorities Law. Under 53 P.S. § 23845, they are empowered to exercise the powers of the Commonwealth as agencies, and to maintain and operate public auditoriums to benefit the people of the Commonwealth. Under that section each is also vested with certain general powers including the power to make contracts necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business and to do all acts and things necessary or convenient for the promotion of its business . . . . We are not aware of, nor have defendants cited us to, any other relevant statutory elaboration of the powers of these defendants. 20 Defendants contend that under the foregoing statutory provisions they are granted broad powers to manage the public facilities under their control, that they were acting within the scope of these powers when any of the alleged acts took place and that their conduct was shielded from antitrust liability under Parker. In particular, defendants Auditorium Authority and Stadium Authority cite 53 P.S. § 23845, claiming that the alleged agreement not to buy plaintiff's products came within the grant of all powers necessary and convenient to run the public facilities. Alternatively, they argue that under the above provisions the selection of products must be made in such a fashion as to benefit the people of the Commonwealth and thus they had the implied power to exclude plaintiff's products. 21 Under the standards enunciated in Parker and Goldfarb, we conclude that this is not a case where Parker-type immunity should be extended to state governmental entities. We see no basis in the relevant provisions of the Pennsylvania Statutes for concluding that the anti-competitive activities alleged by plaintiff were compelled by direction of the State acting as a sovereign. Goldfarb, supra --- U.S. at ---, 95 S.Ct. at 2015. As in Goldfarb, defendants here have pointed to no statute which would compel or even permit the boycott that plaintiff alleges took place. Certain of the defendants undoubtedly had the statutory power to choose products to be sold through the concessions in the public facilities which they own and operate as a function of their authority to manage the facilities. However, nothing explicit or implicit in their statutory authority mandates or permits discrimination against certain suppliers. We therefore conclude that the district court erred in holding that plaintiff's complaint failed to state a claim because the defendants' alleged activities were exempt from antitrust scrutiny under the state action exception of Parker.