Opinion ID: 428544
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Expert Evidence

Text: 37 Plaintiffs have also presented expert testimony explaining price data such as that presented in the model-by-model price comparisons. For example, Part VI of Horace DePodwin's expert report analyzes all of the price data on television receivers that plaintiffs compiled during discovery. DePodwin concludes from his analysis that from 1967 to 1977, defendants sold television receivers in the United States at prices that were substantially less than the prices at which comparable television receivers were sold in Japan. DePodwin Report Part VI at 1836a-65a. 38 Similarly, the expert report of Stanley Nehmer analyzes price data for both television and non-television CEPs. Nehmer Report at 2352a-2474a. Nehmer concludes from this data that defendants charged markedly lower prices for export products sold in the United States than they did for equivalent products sold in Japan. Nehmer Report at 2337a. 39 From this and similar evidence of price discrimination, we conclude that an issue of material fact exists as to whether defendants sold CEPs in the United States at prices that were substantially lower than the prices of comparable CEPs sold in Japan. Thus, we cannot affirm the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' dumping claims on this ground. E. Specific Intent Issue 40 The 1916 Act does not require that all imports sold in the United States be priced at or above the home-market prices of comparable goods. To sustain a claim under the 1916 Act, plaintiffs must show that defendants priced the CEPs that they imported or sold in the United States with the intent of destroying or injuring an industry in the United States. 15 U.S.C. Sec. 72. We now consider whether evidence in this summary judgment record creates a genuine issue of fact as to whether defendants acted with the specific intent required by the 1916 Act. In considering the evidence of intent, we address separately plaintiffs' conspiracy and individual dumping claims. 1. Conspiracy Claims 41 Plaintiffs' complaints allege that defendants conspired to dump CEPs on the United States market. To prove such an agreement, plaintiffs rely on substantially the same evidence relied on to prove the conspiracy to sell products at artificially high prices in Japan and artificially low prices in the United States, as described in our preceding opinion. Proof of this agreement, however, requires evidence that defendants agreed to sell at dumping prices, evidence not required to create a genuine issue of fact as to the conspiracy. 42 The district court dismissed all of plaintiffs' conspiracy claims by way of summary judgment. In our preceding opinion, we vacated that judgment and held that, except as to Sony, Sears, and Motorola, material factual issues exist on plaintiffs' claims that defendants engaged in the alleged conspiracy. Slip Op. at VI A. Based on the evidence referred to in that opinion, combined with evidence discussed above that defendants sold at dumping prices, we hold that, except as to Sony, Sears, and Motorola, material factual issues exist concerning plaintiffs' allegations that defendants agreed to sell CEPs in the United States at prices that were substantially lower than prices at which comparable products were sold in Japan. However, this is not enough to make out a claim under the 1916 Act. Plaintiffs must also show that defendants conspired to dump with specific predatory intent. 43 To make out a claim that defendants conspired under the antitrust laws, plaintiffs need only show that defendants conspired with general intent to restrain trade. United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 445, 98 S.Ct. 2864, 2877, 57 L.Ed.2d 854 (1978). However, a showing of general intent does not necessarily constitute a prima facie showing of the specific intent required by the 1916 Act. See id. (distinguishing general from specific intent). After reviewing the record in this case, we hold that the evidence supporting plaintiffs' theory that defendants entered into the alleged conspiracy also creates a genuine issue of fact as to whether defendants agreed to dump CEPs on the United States market with the specific intent to destroy or injure an industry in the United States. 44 Evidence supporting plaintiffs' conspiracy theory would support an inference of predation in the United States market. This evidence is offered to show that the Japanese defendants agreed to stabilize prices at artificially high levels in Japan, insulating themselves by agreement from price-cutting competition at home. There is also evidence that defendants at the same time entered into an agreement to sell the fruits of the excess capacity of the Japanese CEP industry in the United States at low prices. We assume that the minimum price agreement, of which all the Japanese defendants were members, was mandated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI]. Plaintiffs offer this evidence to show that defendants used the prices in that agreement as reference prices. Finally, plaintiffs point to evidence that defendants sought to conceal sales below MITI prices by a system of secret rebating. 45 The Japanese defendants also allegedly eliminated the possibility of price-cutting competition among themselves in the United States by agreeing to the Five-Company Rule and other customer allocation rules promulgated by the Japanese Machinery Exporters Association [JMEA], of which all the principal Japanese defendants were members. Those rules allocated to each member of the JMEA not more than five customers in the United States and prevented any two members from selling to the same customer. By thus allocating the market, defendants allegedly brought to bear the full force of their low-price conspiracy on their United States competitors in an effort to drive them out of the market. 46 Furthermore, plaintiffs' experts DePodwin and Nehmer summarized the evidence describing defendants' export policy. Both experts concluded that during the time of the alleged conspiracy, defendants operated an export cartel directed toward the United States with the specific intent to undersell their United States competitors and eventually to drive them out of business. See, e.g., DePodwin Report at 1725a, 1865a; Nehmer Report at 2327a, 2329a. 47 We believe that evidence in this summary judgment record creates a genuine issue of fact as to whether defendants conspired to dump CEPs in the United States with the specific intent to injure or destroy an industry in the United States. Thus, we will not affirm the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' conspiracy claims under the 1916 Act on this ground. 2. Individual Claims 48 Plaintiffs' complaints also charge each defendant with individual violations of the 1916 Act. Thus, we must determine whether evidence in this summary judgment record creates a material issue of fact as to plaintiffs' claim that each defendant dumped CEPs on the United States market with individual specific intent. 49 We have held that except as to Sony, Sears, and Motorola, there is sufficient evidence in this summary judgment record to create a genuine issue of fact as to whether each defendant was part of a conspiracy to dump CEPs in the United States. Even if the factfinder concludes that one of these defendants did not join that agreement, we hold that the evidence offered to tie each to that conspiracy creates a genuine issue of fact as to whether each dumped CEPs on the United States market with the specific intent to injure or destroy a United States industry. There is admissible evidence offered to show that each defendant joined in a conspiracy to sell at artificially high prices in Japan while at the same time selling at artificially low prices in the United States, that each defendant participated in the customer allocation rules so as to focus their predatory efforts on their United States competitors, that each defendant consistently sold CEPs in the United States at dumping prices over an extended period of time, and that each defendant except MELCO engaged in secret rebating throughout the alleged conspiracy. Although the rebating evidence has been challenged as inadmissible against MELCO, we hold that there is sufficient other evidence creating a genuine issue of fact as to whether MELCO engaged in individual dumping with the requisite intent. Thus, except as to Sony, Sears, and Motorola, we do not affirm the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' individual dumping claims. 50 Because we have held that there is insufficient evidence tying Sony, Sears, and Motorola to either the conspiracy or an agreement to dump, plaintiffs' evidence of specific intent as to the individual dumping claims against these three defendants must stand independently from the evidence of specific intent offered to support plaintiffs' dumping claims against the other defendants. Unless there is sufficient evidence in the summary judgment record to create a factual issue as to whether Sony, Sears, or Motorola each acted with specific intent, we will affirm the district court's dismissal of all plaintiffs' dumping claims against them. 51 Plaintiffs' evidence that each of these three defendants acted with specific predatory intent is weak. Plaintiffs have produced no direct evidence that Sony, Sears, or Motorola sold low-price CEPs in the United States with the intent to injure or destroy the CEP industry in this country. The only circumstantial evidence in this record that even marginally supports the inference that these three defendants each acted with specific predatory intent is evidence that they sold imported CEPs at substantially lower prices in the United States than the prices at which comparable CEPs were sold in Japan, and evidence that they knew that the other defendants were engaging in similar activity and that concerted dumping could injure or destroy the CEP industry in the United States. Although this evidence might support a finding of general intent, we do not believe that this evidence creates a genuine issue of fact as to whether Sony, Sears, and Motorola each acted with the specific predatory intent required by the 1916 Act. Thus, we will affirm the district court's dismissal of all plaintiffs' dumping claims against Sony, Sears, and Motorola.