Opinion ID: 2936316
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Opportunity and improper

Text: communications The Plaintiffs also contend that the Chocolate Manufacturers had opportunities to conspire during the proposed sale of Hershey and at trade show meetings. The Plaintiffs’ evidence is essentially that the executives from the Chocolate Manufacturers were in the same place at the same time, which is insufficient to support a reasonable inference of concerted activity. See Petruzzi’s, 998 F.2d at 1235. Even if we assume that Nestlé USA learned of Hershey’s commodities cost coverage during the 2002 sale process 45 (which is far from clear),19 there is nothing to suggest that Hershey and Nestlé USA used the sale process to hatch a price-fixing conspiracy, especially because Mars, the price leader in 2002, was uninvolved in the sale process. This evidence of mere opportunities to conspire stands in stark contrast to the evidence of secret meetings and communications in the Canadian conspiracy and cannot alone support an inference of a conspiracy. Relatedly, the Direct Purchaser Class argues that there is evidence of improper communications among the Chocolate Manufacturers’ employees and that these communications support an inference of a conspiracy. The Class cites (1) a 2004 email between Nestlé USA managers showing that a Hershey employee had given a Nestlé USA employee information about Hershey’s pricing promotions on multipack products, J.A. 9270; (2) a January 2007 email between two Mars sales executives about a conversation with a Hershey manager and information learned about Hershey’s 19 Compare J.A. 7105 (2002 Hershey internal document explaining that “the bidders conducted extensive due diligence reviews and were provided with additional information as requested (in some instances for competitive and regulatory reasons only certain non-operational personnel of potential bidders were provided information)”), and J.A. 13295–96 (Direct Purchaser Class’s expert acknowledging the complete lack of record evidence showing that either Nestlé S.A. or Nestlé USA received information about Hershey’s commodities cost coverage), with J.A. 12843–45 (Cadbury officer acknowledging that Cadbury received information about Hershey’s commodities cost coverage in an email from an investment banker working for Hershey during the sale process). 46 promotional activities, J.A. 9269; and (3) a September 2007 email between Mars executives relaying that one had obtained information about costs from his counterpart at Hershey, J.A. 9267. These sporadic communications among individuals without pricing authority are insufficient to create a reasonable inference of a conspiracy. See Baby Food, 166 F.3d at 125. Moreover, the September 2007 communication occurred after the 2007 price increase, so it could not have affected the relevant pricing decisions. Accordingly, we will not infer a conspiracy from this evidence.