Opinion ID: 495447
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Regan Corporation

Text: 21 The district court held that Regan Corporation (Regan) lacked standing to sue under the antitrust laws because it failed to establish that it had more than de minimis sales activity in the relevant market. The district court, and the defendants on appeal, rely on two district court cases, Ohio-Sealy Mattress Manufacturing Co. v. Kaplan, 545 F.Supp. 765, 776-777 (N.D.Ill.1982), aff'd, 712 F.2d 270 (7th Cir.1983), and Paquette v. Connecticut Natural Gas Corp., No. H 76-441 (D.Conn. Nov. 18, 1981), 4 for the proposition that a company [that] does not compete in a given area of the economy and [that] has taken no steps to enter that area [ ] may not complain of supposed diminution in competition in that area. Ohio-Sealy, 545 F.Supp. at 776-777. To the extent that these cases require a plaintiff to do a particular volume of business in the relevant market in order to have standing to complain about illegal activities in that market, we cannot agree. 22 The complaint here alleges that Regan has been the target of a group boycott by the defendants. The defendants allegedly have agreed not to do business with Regan, a non-preferred broker, have advised prospective buyers of real estate not to do business with Regan, have attempted to destroy the corporation's reputation and goodwill, and have induced prospective sellers of real estate to breach listing contracts with Regan. The fact that Regan has had only de minimis sales activity in the Beverly Hills/Morgan Park neighborhoods in recent years may simply reflect the effectiveness of the defendants' boycott. 23 Regan has certainly alleged injury of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent and that flows from that which makes the defendants' acts unlawful. Brunswick, 429 U.S. at 489, 97 S.Ct. at 697. Regan claims that the defendants have undertaken activities to drive him out of the real estate brokerage services market in Beverly Hills and Morgan Park, thereby reducing price competition in that market. Moreover, it is apparent that Regan's alleged injuries are the direct result of the defendants' anticompetitive practices. Regan is therefore a proper plaintiff to maintain an antitrust action under either Sec. 4 or Sec. 16 of the Clayton Act. 24 By holding that Regan has standing to sue the defendants for alleged antitrust violations, we do not mean to intimate any view as to the merits of his action. Parts of Regan's antitrust claim are rather unusual. For example the allegation that the defendants have failed to list properties with SSBR's MLS and have instead maintained their own real estate listings essentially amounts to a charge that the defendants have not cooperated sufficiently with their competitors. The antitrust laws are usually employed to attack excessive rather than insufficient cooperation among competitors. See, e.g., Olympia Equipment Leasing Co. v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 797 F.2d 370, 374-376 (7th Cir.1986), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1574, 94 L.Ed.2d 765. Furthermore, the fact that the defendants have failed to share information with their competitors, including Regan, does not seem to have prevented customers, either prospective buyers or sellers of real estate in the area, from seeking out Regan as a source of brokerage services. Nevertheless, the complaint does contain some allegations that the defendants have steered customers away from Regan and have even induced prospective sellers to breach listing contracts with the corporation. Regan is entitled to try to substantiate these allegations. 25 The judgment of the district court is affirmed in part and reversed in part. The case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.