Opinion ID: 501682
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Parties' Allegations

Text: 15 In its amended complaint, Pinney's principal allegation is that the defendants conspired to restrain trade in, eliminate competition in, and monopolize the business of providing both dock services for iron ore and other goods moving over docks on the lower Great Lakes and water carriage for iron ore moving to the same docks. Pinney alleges that the defendants accomplished their illegal purposes by engaging in secret meetings, by refusing to grant non-railroad owned docks, such as Pinney, a competitive rail rate (i.e., a commodity line-haul rate), by arbitrarily placing Pinney in a switching district where it would be ineligible for rail rates competitive with those available at railroad owned docks, by imposing an arbitrarily and unjustifiably high switching charge on cars of a railroad competitor which sought to carry iron ore from Pinney Dock at competitive rail rates, by intentionally impeding the construction and use of self-unloading vessels through the imposition of artificial, arbitrary, and unjustifiably high dock handling charges on such vessels and thereby foreclosing Pinney Dock's development as an iron ore handling facility, and by forcing railroads to forgo their right to independent action with respect to rail rates and services and other matters. 10 16 Pinney alleges that as a result of the defendants' acts and violations, it was injured in its business and property because it was forestalled and excluded from participating in the business of providing dock services for various commodities, including iron ore, coal and coke. Pinney seeks to recover damages based on the amount of business it lost as a result of the defendants' efforts to drive it out of the iron ore business. They state that [o]ne way to calculate the amount of business Pinney lost is to determine the amount of iron ore Pinney would have handled absent defendants' conspiracy and multiply that amount by the charges Pinney would have assessed for handling the ore. Pinney also claims that it was injured in its business by the defendants' assessment of bulker handling charges to self-unloaders, which, according to Pinney, was intended to impede the development and operation of such vessels, vessels which Pinney claims it was uniquely capable of handling. 17 Litton's damage claims are in many respects similar to those of Pinney. Litton's principal allegation is that the defendants conspired to restrain trade in, eliminate competition, and monopolize the business of providing dock services for iron ore and other bulk commodities moving over the docks on the Great Lakes, and also conspired to restrain and suppress trade in the business of carrying iron ore and other bulk commodities in self-unloading and certain bulker vessels moving on the Great Lakes. Litton also claims that the defendants conspired to foreclose and prevent Litton from developing, selling, or chartering, or using technically advanced vessel, dock and related products and services. 18 Litton asserts that the defendants accomplished these illegal purposes by continuous secret meetings, by refusing to permit Litton to purchase, lease or use dock facilities which could have accommodated self-unloading vessels, by refusing to handle self-unloading vessels, by taking affirmative action to prevent non-railroad controlled docks from handling bulk commodities transported in self-unloading vessels, by arbitrarily placing unjustifiably high dock handling charges on iron ore discharged from self-unloading vessels, and by forcing railroads to forego their right of independent action. Litton claims that as a result of the defendants' acts and violations, it was forced to cease the design, construction, sale and charter of its advanced self-unloading vessels, the operation of its self-unloading and bulker vessels for the transportation of iron ore and other bulk commodities, and prevented in its efforts to secure and operate dock facilities. Litton claims that, as a result, it was forced to withdraw from the Lake Erie transportation market in 1974.