Opinion ID: 433759
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Nature of the Conflict

Text: 144 The conflict faced here is not caused by the courts of the two countries. Rather, its sources are the fundamentally opposed national policies toward prohibition of anticompetitive business activity. These policies originate in the legislative and executive decisions of the respective counties. 145 Congress has specifically authorized treble damage actions by foreign corporations to redress injuries to United States foreign commerce. 134 Equally significant, congress has designed the private action as a major component in the enforcement mechanism. The treble damage aspect of private recoveries is the centerpiece of that enforcement mechanism. 135 146 We find no indication in either the statutory scheme or prior judicial precedent that jurisdiction should not be exercised. Legitimate United States interests in protecting consumers, providing for vindicating creditors' rights, and regulating economic consequences of those doing substantial business in our country are all advanced under the congressionally prescribed scheme. These are more than sufficient jurisdictional contacts under United States v. Aluminum Co. of America 136 and subsequent case law to support the exercise of prescriptive jurisdiction in this case. Congress has been aware of the decades-long controversy accompanying the recurrent assertion of jurisdiction over foreign anticompetitive acts and effects in the United States dating back nearly forty years but has, with limited exceptions, 137 not yet chosen to limit the laws' application or disapprove of the consistent statutory interpretation reached by the courts. Thus, aside from the unprecedented foreign challenge to the application of the antitrust laws, there is nothing in either the facts alleged in the complaint or the circumstances of the litigation which suggests jurisdiction should not be exercised in Laker's suit. 147 The English courts have indicated that they, too, have acted out of the need to implement their mandatory legislative policy, and not out of any ill will towards our courts or the substantive law we are bound to follow. Although the injunctive relief sought by British Airways and British Caledonian set the stage for a direct conflict of jurisdiction, until action by the political branches of the English Government the English courts remained largely acquiescent to Laker's invocation of United States jurisdiction. Justice Parker's well reasoned judgment initially denied the injunctive relief sought by British Airways and British Caledonian. That judgment was rendered even after the district court issued the injunction under appeal here. 148 However, the government of the United Kingdom is now and has historically been opposed to most aspects of United States antitrust policy insofar as it affects business enterprises based in the United Kingdom. The British Government objects to the scope of the prescriptive jurisdiction invoked to apply the antitrust laws; the substantive content of those laws, which is much more aggressive than British regulation of restrictive practices; and the procedural vehicles used in the litigation of the antitrust laws, including private treble damage actions, and the widespread use of pretrial discovery. These policies have been most recently and forcefully expressed in the Protection of Trading Interests Act. 138 149 The nature of the direct conflict between the political-economic policies of the two countries is put into focus by considering whether the British Government would have been likely to attempt to stop Laker from suing in United States courts if Laker brought a suit other than an antitrust action. If Laker had sued the American defendants for fraud, or on a contract claim for failure of performance, the British would not have been at all interested in intervening, irrespective of the financial condition of Laker at the time it brought the suit. The indifference would not lessen whether British Airways and British Caledonian were included in the group sued by Laker in the United States court. It is the hated application of United States antitrust laws to conduct involving British corporations that has triggered the involvement of the British Government, and ultimately, the British courts. 150 Under the provisions of the Protection of Trading Interests Act, after Justice Parker refused relief, the English Secretary of State issued an order and directions prohibiting all those carrying on business in the United Kingdom, with the exception of United States designated air carriers, from complying with United States antitrust measures arising out of the provision of air carriage by United Kingdom designated airlines under the terms of the Bermuda II Treaty. Because these directions reflected the firm conclusion of the British Executive Branch that British trading interests were being threatened by Laker's antitrust claim, they presented an entirely different situation to the Court of Appeal than that which Justice Parker had faced. 139 The restrictions placed on the British airlines by these orders fundamentally altered the perceived ability of the Court of Appeal to permit concurrent actions. 140 Because the directions of the British Executive blocked British Caledonian and British Airways from complying with Laker's discovery requests, the court concluded that the British airlines could not thereafter adequately defend themselves. According to the Court of Appeal, this rendered Laker's claim wholly untriable and was therefore decisive. 141 151 Thus, to a large extent the conflict of jurisdiction is one generated by the political branches of the governments. There is simply no room for accommodation here if the courts of each country faithfully carry out the laws which they are entrusted to enforce. The Master of the Rolls expressed hope that the courts of the two countries will ... never be in conflict. The conflict, if there be conflict, will be purely one between the laws of the two countries, for which neither court is responsible. 142 We echo that hope.