Opinion ID: 4076467
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Interference with Defense and Cross-

Text: Examination Avaya also contends that the District Court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law hindered its ability to present evidence in its defense against the antitrust claims. It points to two examples in particular. First, during Avaya’s cross-examination of TLI’s CEO, Avaya’s counsel asked about how TLI got access to Avaya brand PBX systems. At a sidebar, the District Court told counsel that, “[i]f you’re trying to tell the jury they’re illegal, I have a problem with that.” (J.A. 4440.) The Court did allow the line of questions but under the restriction that counsel could not imply that TLI’s actions were unlawful. Second, when Avaya was examining its own economics expert, it presented evidence that restrictions it placed on its Business Partners actually ended up “clearing the field” in a way that advantaged TLI competitively.41 degree to which those letters were legitimate surely depended on the truth of the legal assertions in them. If Avaya was correct in its assertions that unauthorized access was unlawful – a question taken away from the jury by virtue of the Rule 50 decision – then the letters arguably contain defensible statements of law. That could make a world of difference to a jury in evaluating the truthfulness and competitive legitimacy of the letters. 41 The basis for the field-clearing argument was that because Avaya restricted its Business Partners from competing with it for maintenance business, when TLI sought 76 Before the Rule 50 decision, the expert was planning to include analysis predicated on the illegality of TLI’s conduct, but – after the judgment as a matter of law – the District Court reminded counsel in a sidebar to “[s]tay away from trying to ... contradict anything I’ve already decided,” in reference to the Rule 50 decision. (J.A. 4587.) Those specific examples speak to a broader point. They highlight that, if Avaya had been able to argue that TLI’s conduct was unlawful, that argument would likely have been a key and repeated part of its defense to the antitrust claims. Each argument by TLI’s counsel to the contrary could have been met with a forceful response. Avaya’s claim that it was “hamstrung in its ability to justify its supposedly anticompetitive conduct” is therefore a fair and accurate one. (Third Step Br. at 19.)42 to lure customers from Avaya, it did not have to compete with any of those Business Partners, who were precluded from seeking that business. In that way, the expert opined, TLI benefited from much of the allegedly anticompetitive conduct over which it filed suit because that conduct restricted TLI’s competition as much as it did Avaya’s. 42 The Dissent suggests that any limitations placed on Avaya’s defense as a result of the Rule 50 ruling were merely “rhetorical,” and that being able to argue the illegality of TLI’s conduct “would not have changed the substance of Avaya’s procompetitive-justification argument.” (Dissenting Op. at 12.) We disagree. It is one thing to explain to a jury that sharp-elbowed tactics were taken to retaliate against aggressive but completely lawful activities of a competitor. It is altogether different to be able to argue that the restraints of 77