Opinion ID: 6335450
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Secure Preferred Contractual Terms

Text: is Not an Antitrust Injury Begin with the narrow contours of Host’s claim. MarketPlace selected Host to develop retail space and offered a proposed lease. Host did not like the terms and, weighing its options, declined the offer. It is a scenario that plays out across the nation daily, in transactions big and small. But it is not an antitrust injury because competition has not been suppressed. Host has not been excluded from any market nor forced to purchase non-alcoholic beverages from anyone. 10 True, refusing to deal can sometimes establish an antitrust claim under Section 2.7 Likewise, a group decision among competitors to boycott a firm might constitute a claim under Section 1. And a host of common law claims sounding in contract, quasi-contract, and tort could come into play. See JetAway Aviation, LLC v. Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs, 754 F.3d 824, 855 (10th Cir. 2014) (per curiam) (Tymkovich, J., concurring); E. Food Servs., Inc. v. Pontifical Catholic Univ. Servs. Ass’n, Inc., 357 F.3d 1, 9 (1st Cir. 2004). But Host seeks something novel: recognition that failing to contract for commercial space states a Section 1 claim. We decline that invitation. An objectionable term in a commercial agreement, without more, is not an antitrust violation because “[d]espite [Section 1’s] seemingly absolute language,” only unreasonable agreements in restraint of trade are antitrust violations under the Sherman Act. W. Penn, 627 F.3d at 99 (citations omitted). Host’s Complaint alleges how the exclusive beverage agreement and the PRA are undesirable, but not how they are unreasonable restraints. Host surely prefers a broader set of options for its sublessees, but that does not create a duty on MarketPlace because “[a]s a general rule, businesses are free to choose the parties with whom they will deal, as well as the prices, terms, and conditions of that dealing.” See Pac. Bell Tel. Co. v. linkLine Commc’ns, Inc., 7 But only among competitors, and only if the parties have a history of dealing paired with facts suggesting “a willingness to forsake short-term profits to achieve an anticompetitive end.” Verizon Commc’ns Inc. v. L. Offs. of Curtis V. Trinko, LLP, 540 U.S. 398, 409 (2004) (citing Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp., 472 U.S. 585 (1985)). 11 555 U.S. 438, 448 (2009). As a result, Host does not have an antitrust injury sufficient to confer standing.