Opinion ID: 403391
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The One Contract, Aggregation Issue

Text: 36 Sportservice argues that it was improper for the district court to have aggregated other contracts in the relevant market with the Finley-Sportservice contract to determine Sportservice's antitrust liability; that the district court should be limited to looking only to the one contract between Finley and Sportservice; and if such were done, the evidence shows that Sportservice controlled less than one percent of the relevant market. To support its argument, Sportservice cites to a number of cases which hold that various private antitrust plaintiffs in various factual contexts do not have standing to assert antitrust violations that affect them only indirectly. 37 Reliance on these cases is misplaced; indeed, reliance on a standing argument misconceives the issues in this case. The issue here is not whether Finley has standing to complain of Sportservice's antitrust violations; there is no question that Finley suffered a direct injury from Sportservice's conduct. Instead, the issue is whether a district court, in assessing the antitrust liability of a defendant, may look to the overall effects of a defendant's conduct in the relevant market, or is limited to looking at the market implications of the one contract between the antitrust plaintiff and defendant. At least in the factual context of the instant litigation, we think the district court correctly assessed Sportservice's aggregate pattern of conduct in the relevant market. 38 In Fortner Enterprises v. U. S. Steel Corp. 394 U.S. 495, 89 S.Ct. 1252, 22 L.Ed.2d 495 (1969), the Supreme Court sanctioned the use of aggregation analysis in a case involving an alleged tying violation, stating: 39 (A) narrow focus on the volume of commerce foreclosed by the particular contract or contracts in suit would not be appropriate in this context. As the special provision awarding treble damages to successful plaintiffs illustrates, Congress has encouraged private antitrust litigation not merely to compensate those who have been directly injured but also to vindicate the important public interest in free competition. 40 Id., 394 U.S. at 502, 89 S.Ct. at 1258, 22 L.Ed.2d at 504. We feel that the policy for allowing aggregation as expressed in Fortner equally applies to the instant case. 41 Sportservice admits that the government may sue on aggregate anticompetitive conduct, see, e.g., Standard Oil Co. of California and Standard Stations, Inc., v. United States, 337 U.S. 293, 69 S.Ct. 1051, 93 L.Ed. 1371 (1949) (Standard Stations), but offers little justification for us to adopt a limitation on private antitrust plaintiffs. We decline to formulate any distinction between public and private antitrust plaintiffs here for the same reasons expressed by the district court below. Creating such a distinction would require courts to enforce arguably innocuous single contracts that belong to a pattern of contractual relations that significantly restrain trade in a relevant market. Moreover, we support the district court's citation to other case authority allowing private plaintiffs to litigate antitrust defendants' aggregate pattern of allegedly illegal behavior. 8 42 Sportservice also asserts that the law of this case supports its no aggregation argument. On prior appeal, we said that it was necessary to establish the proper relevant market before it can be determined whether a particular exclusive-dealing arrangement unreasonably restrained competition in a substantial share of that market. 512 F.2d at 1274-75. Sportservice would emphasize the word particular to reinforce its one contract argument. We read that language differently. It is consistent with Finley I to look at Sportservice's total arrangement of entering into concession contracts with the facilities owners on an aggregate basis in order to determine Sportservice's antitrust liability. Nothing in our prior opinion suggested that aggregation of Sportservice's contracts in the relevant market was prohibited, and we find no compelling reasons to adopt such a principle at this juncture. We therefore hold that it was proper for the district court to have aggregated Sportservice's contracts in the relevant market in order to assess the Sherman Act violations resulting from these contracts.