Opinion ID: 196628
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: CAPECO's Meeting Competition Defense

Text: 80 CAPECO also argues that the district court should have given jury instructions on the affirmative defense of meeting competition. Section 2(b) of Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, permits a defendant to rebut a prima facie case of violation by showing that its lower price was made in good faith to meet an equally low price of a competitor. 15 U.S.C. § 13(b). The meeting competition defense can be raised only by a defendant who responds in good faith to the believed lower price of a competitor. United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 98 S.Ct. 2864, 57 L.Ed.2d 854 (1978), appeal after remand, 600 F.2d 414 (3d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 884, 100 S.Ct. 175, 62 L.Ed.2d 114 (1979). 81 We need not consider CAPECO's argument that it believed in good faith that it was responding to a competitive threat posed by Coastal in combination with its parent CFMI, because we conclude that even assuming that Coastal and CFMI were a single entity, they do not constitute a competitor in the same specific area as CAPECO, see Falls City, 460 U.S. at 448, 103 S.Ct. at 1295. In Falls City, the Supreme Court concluded that Congress intended the meeting competition defense to allow reasonable pricing responses on an area-specific basis where competitive circumstances warrant them. Id. at 448, 103 S.Ct. at 1295. Here, the district court could reasonably conclude that the defense did not apply, since there was a lack of evidence, beyond CAPECO's own employees' testimony about what they believed to be the case, that CFMI offered lower prices on bunker fuel in San Juan than CAPECO. See Rose Confections, Inc. v. Ambrosia Chocolate Co., 816 F.2d 381, 391-93 (8th Cir.1987) (ruling defense rejected where seller relied on assumption or speculation without verification that competitor's prices were in fact lower). Therefore, we do not find abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of a new trial based on its refusal to issue a jury instruction on the meeting competition defense. 82