Opinion ID: 705929
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Antitrust Laws: The Relevant Statutory Provisions

Text: 7 Section One of the Sherman Act prohibits anticompetitive activities designed to restrain unreasonably trade and bans [e]very contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce.... 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1. Section Two prohibits monopolistic practices and provides sanctions for [e]very person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce.... 15 U.S.C. Sec. 2. 8 Section Four of the Clayton Act defines the class of persons who may bring a private suit under the antitrust laws. Section Four provides: 9 [A]ny person who shall be injured in his business or property by reason of anything forbidden in the antitrust laws may sue therefor in any district court of the United States in the district in which the defendant resides or is found or has an agent, without respect to the amount in controversy, and shall recover threefold the damages by him sustained and the cost of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee. 10 15 U.S.C. Sec. 15. The Supreme Court has held that Congress did not intend the antitrust laws to provide a remedy in damages for all injuries that might conceivably be traced to an antitrust violation. Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co., 405 U.S. 251, 263 n. 14, 92 S.Ct. 885, 892 n. 14, 31 L.Ed.2d 184 (1972). The language of Sec. 4 has been construed to limit the parties who may bring an antitrust action to (1) those who have suffered the type of injury that the antitrust laws were intended to prevent and (2) those whose injuries are a result of defendant's unlawful conduct. Brunswick Corp. v. Pueblo Bowl-O-Mat, Inc., 429 U.S. 477, 489, 97 S.Ct. 690, 698, 50 L.Ed.2d 701 (1977). The Court, focusing on Congress' intent to have antitrust laws construed in light of the common law, also has read Sec. 4 to contain a proximate cause element, denying standing to plaintiffs whose injuries are indirect or secondary. Associated Gen. Contractors, Inc. v. California State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519, 540-46, 103 S.Ct. 897, 909-12, 74 L.Ed.2d 723 (1983). The Court has identified several factors to be considered in determining whether a plaintiff is the proper party to bring a private action under the antitrust laws: (1) the causal connection between the antitrust violation and the plaintiff's injury; (2) the nature of the plaintiff's injury and the relationship between the plaintiff's injury and the type of activity sought to be redressed under the antitrust laws; and (3) the speculative nature of the plaintiff's claim for damages and the potential for duplicative recovery or complex apportionment of damages. Associated Gen. Contractors, 459 U.S. at 537-46, 103 S.Ct. at 908-12; see also Nelson v. Monroe Regional Medical Ctr., 925 F.2d 1555, 1562 (7th Cir.), cert. dismissed, 502 U.S. 903, 112 S.Ct. 285, 116 L.Ed.2d 236 (1991).