Opinion ID: 409686
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiff's Pendent State Claims

Text: 71 Having affirmed the judgment for Independence on its antitrust claim, we would ordinarily not need to discuss at length the defendants' attack on the alternative tortious inducement of a breach of the Yoder contract (Count IV). 23 But one point requires some attention. Copperweld claims a privilege to interfere with the Yoder contract to protect its own legal interests. At trial, the privilege figured in both the antitrust count (where it was alleged to come within the Noerr-Pennington doctrine 24 ) and the tortious interference with Yoder count. On appeal, the Noerr-Pennington doctrine has been abandoned, but Copperweld continues to insist with reference to the tort count that the privilege is unqualified, that showing the absence of the privilege was part of plaintiff's prima facie case, and that Judge Will did not give the jury proper instructions on it (Br. 50-58). Because there is a possibility that, had there been error, it could have affected the whole judgment, we address Copperweld's interpretation. 72 According to Copperweld (which alone was found liable for the tortious inducement of Yoder's contract breach), a belief that one has legal rights, however mistaken, can excuse any action, however disproportionate, to protect one's interests, however tenuous. 25 If this were a true statement of Illinois law, liability for tortious interference with a contract would be exceedingly rare. 73 Actually the Restatement (Second) of Torts, Section 733, on which Copperweld relies, states a more modest privilege: 74 One who, by asserting in good faith a legally protected interest of his own or threatening in good faith to protect the interest by appropriate means, intentionally causes a third person not to perform an existing contract or enter into a prospective contractual relation with another does not interfere improperly with the other's relation if the actor believes that his interest may otherwise be impaired or destroyed by the performance of the contract or transaction. 75 Under this version the legally protected interest must exist at least in the abstract, 26 the assertion of it or the threat to enforce it must be made in good faith, the means chosen must be appropriate, and the claimant must believe that the contract or transaction, if allowed to go forward, would impair or destroy that right. 76 As a threshold matter, there was a general misunderstanding about the legally protectible interest. Copperweld knew from its first consultation with a lawyer that neither Grohne nor Independence was bound by the non-competition agreement it had signed with Lear Siegler when it bought Regal. Copperweld may have thought that Grohne owed certain duties to Regal because of his former employment and that these duties now ran to Copperweld as Regal's parent corporation. That is the basis of the counterclaims, discussed in Part IV.B infra. But if that is the legal interest, there is first no basis in fact for the assertion of it (see note 26 supra ). Furthermore there is a complete lack of connection between that right and Copperweld's approach to Yoder. Grohne could buy a tube mill from a mill manufacturer without relying on Regal trade secrets, customer lists, or other proprietary information. Recognizing the discontinuity, Copperweld claims that it was protecting its right to enjoin Grohne, should he violate his fiduciary duties at some future time, by preventing third parties from developing reliance interests in Grohne's business. That theory improves the fit between the action and the rationale. But then the difficulty is that a preference for injunctive relief rather than monetary damages-when both are remote because the harm is neither actual nor imminent-can hardly qualify as a legally protected interest. 77 In fact, Judge Will was probably more generous in instructing the jury on Copperweld's theory than he needed to be. Copperweld attempts to show otherwise by focusing solely on the instructions under the tort count (App. 181-183). But the district judge had already given the jury extensive instructions under the antitrust count (App. 164-169), and these were incorporated by reference, rather than fully reiterated, under the tort count. 27 Reading the two sets of instructions together, we can see that the jury was told that: preparing an injunction suit was a legitimate objective (App. 165); such a lawsuit need not be filed to demonstrate a good faith intent to sue (App. 167); reliance on the advice of counsel was a factor but not a complete defense (App. 169); the actual existence of a legal basis for suit was irrelevant to good faith, but some quantum of investigation was required (App. 167); and Copperweld was entitled to be concerned about the formation of Independence as a competitor but its concern had to be focused on Independence, not translated into threats against parties with whom Independence dealt (App. 166). These instructions contain all that is correct in the defendants' proposed instruction: 78 Under the law, a person may properly interfere with the contractual rights or business relations of another by in good faith asserting or threatening to protect a legally protected interest which he believes may otherwise be impaired or destroyed. 79 If you find that Copperweld's letter of February 19, 1973, was sent on the advice of counsel in a good-faith effort to protect legal rights which Copperweld believed would otherwise have been impaired or destroyed, then you must find that the defendants are not liable on the plaintiff's tortious interference claim. 80 (Defendants' Instruction 39 Revised, Def. Br. 54) 81 Unlike the defendants' instruction, Judge Will's did not eliminate the reasonable means requirement nor make the advice of counsel so prominent that the jury could be misled into according it conclusive importance. 82 Here as elsewhere in this appeal Copperweld's real complaint is that the jury disbelieved its version of events. As we have already indicated (pp. 319-320 supra), we do not substitute our judgment for the jury's. There was ample reason for its decision. For example, if notice rather than intimidation had been the purpose of Copperweld's campaign, one letter to Yoder would have served. A second and third were in fact sent (App. 593-594). If protection of Regal's proprietary interests had been the rationale, than Copperweld's actions were premature (App. 636, 638) 28 and probably specious (App. 760-777, 677). 29 We would therefore have affirmed the jury's findings if we had had to reach them on the antitrust appeal and we do affirm them on the tortious inducement of Yoder count.