Opinion ID: 414451
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Litton's Damage Study and AT & T Conduct Found Lawful:

Text: 132 Causation. 133 AT & T argues that the Hexter Lost Profits Study assumed the absence of AT & T practices that the jury either did not consider or did not find unlawful, e.g., pricing practices, disparaging advertising, and copying competitors' products. The argument, stated more simply, is that Hexter could not separate the lost profits related to lawful activity from the lost profits related to the unlawful interface and practices associated therewith. AT & T correctly points out that courts have held that damage studies are inadequate when only some of the conduct complained of is found to be wrongful and the damage study cannot be disaggregated. E.g., Momand v. Universal Film Exchanges, Inc., 172 F.2d 37 (1st Cir.1948), cert. denied, 336 U.S. 967, 69 S.Ct. 939, 93 L.Ed. 1118 (1949); ILC Peripherals Leasing Corp. v. IBM Corp., 458 F.Supp. 423, 434, 436 (N.D.Cal.1978), aff'd sub nom. Memorex Corp. v. IBM Corp., 636 F.2d 1188 (9th Cir.1980) (per curiam), cert. denied, 452 U.S. 972, 101 S.Ct. 3126, 69 L.Ed.2d 983 (1981). 134 But the record does not sustain the AT & T position. What Hexter assumed was that to the extent that there were any marketing practices either related directly or indirectly to the interface device that may have been harassing or uncooperative, that these practices would not be present in the  'but for' world. He made an effort to segregate how much in lost profits related to the interface and to pricing or marketing practices, but rejected it because he did not believe that the results were fruitful. He assumed that Bell would know its own costs and would price toughly but competitively and that companies challenging Bell would, everything else being equal, be able to compete and make a profit. He did not assume that any particular AT & T pricing practices would be eliminated. In short, there is no evidence that Hexter assumed AT & T's prices were illegal or that he made specific assumptions about how individual AT & T pricing practices would have changed. AT & T did not submit contrary evidence. How else lost profits can be proved in an antitrust case, we are not told. In short, there was an evidentiary basis for the jury award which--all things considered--was modest in light of the fact that Litton's lost profits were limited to years prior to 1978. See generally Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645, 652-53, 66 S.Ct. 740, 743, 90 L.Ed. 916 (1946), Eastman Kodak Co. v. Southern Photo Material Co., supra, at 378-79, 47 S.Ct. at 405. 135