Opinion ID: 165739
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Private Defendants

Text: 23 Although the Noerr-Pennington doctrine establishes that the non-governmental defendants are not liable for their lobbying of Black Hawk, it does not establish whether these defendants are also immune to claims for monetary relief based on allegations that they purchased the undivided interests in mining claims for the purpose of blocking the proposed annexation. 11 The purchase of these mining claims was allegedly an act independent of the petitioning of Black Hawk officials and was not part of an attempt to influence government action. Because holding defendants' liable for their purchase of the mining interests would not implicate their First Amendment right to petition government, this activity is not subject to protection under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. Like the Black Hawk officials, however, these defendants are nevertheless immune from monetary liability under the LGAA. 24 The LGAA precludes monetary damages in any claim against a person based on any official action directed by a local government. 15 U.S.C. § 36(a). In determining whether the action of a private individual constitutes official action directed by a local government for purposes of the LGAA, other circuits have applied by analogy the Supreme Court's precedents on the question whether a private individual's action is entitled to state-action immunity under Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341, 63 S.Ct. 307, 87 L.Ed. 315 (1943). See Crosby, 93 F.3d at 1536; Cohn, 953 F.2d at 157; Sandcrest, 853 F.2d at 1143. In Parker, the Supreme Court held that the Sherman Act was not intended to restrain state action or official action directed by a state. Parker, 317 U.S. at 351, 63 S.Ct. 307. The Court subsequently extended the holding in Parker to private individuals acting at the direction of the state, setting forth a two-part test for determining whether such an individual should not be subjected to liability. California Retail Liquor Dealers Ass'n v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc., 445 U.S. 97, 105, 100 S.Ct. 937, 63 L.Ed.2d 233 (1980). First, the challenged restraint must be one clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed as state policy. Id. (quotation omitted). Second, the policy must be actively supervised by the State itself. Id. (quotation omitted). 25 The Conference Report to the LGAA, explicitly agreed to by both houses of Congress, explains that the phrase official action directed by found in Parker and subsequent cases interpreting it shall apply by analogy to the conduct of a local government in directing the actions of non-governmental parties, as if the local government were a state. H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 98-1158, reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4602, 4627; see also Sandcrest, 853 F.2d at 1143. Applying the two-part test by analogy to the private defendants here, the relevant questions therefore become: (1) whether the challenged restraint was the clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed policy of Black Hawk, and (2) whether the policy was actively supervised by Black Hawk. See Crosby, 93 F.3d at 1536 ([W]e apply by analogy the Parker doctrine to the relationship between the [local government entity] (i.e., the entity under the LGAA which is analogous to the State in the state action immunity context) and the individual [defendants] (i.e., the entities under the LGAA which are analogous to private parties in the state action immunity context).). 26 The clear articulation requirement of Midcal's first prong is satisfied if the provisions in question plainly show that the legislature contemplated the kind of action complained of. Town of Hallie v. City of Eau Claire, 471 U.S. 34, 44, 105 S.Ct. 1713, 85 L.Ed.2d 24 (1985) (quotations omitted). This requirement is met by analogy in this case, when plaintiffs allege not only that Black Hawk contemplated the anticompetitive effects of selling the mining interests, but that the city affirmatively participated in the conspiracy to block construction of the road. The active supervision test of the second Midcal prong requires that state officials have and exercise power to review particular anticompetitive acts of private parties and disapprove those that fail to accord with state policy. Patrick v. Burget, 486 U.S. 94, 101, 108 S.Ct. 1658, 100 L.Ed.2d 83 (1988). The purpose of this test is to determine whether the State has exercised sufficient independent judgment and control so that the details of the [state action] have been established as a product of deliberate state intervention, not simply by agreement among private parties. FTC v. Ticor Title Ins. Co., 504 U.S. 621, 634-35, 112 S.Ct. 2169, 119 L.Ed.2d 410 (1992). Here, because Black Hawk was the owner of the mining claims, it necessarily had the power to review and disapprove of the sale of the claims to the private defendants. The act of purchasing the undivided interests in the mining claims therefore constitutes official action directed by a local government for purposes of the LGAA. 27 As with the city officials, plaintiffs' allegations that the private defendants were engaged in a conspiracy to further private interests is irrelevant to the question whether they are entitled to immunity under the LGAA. See City of Columbia, 499 U.S. at 374, 111 S.Ct. 1344; Allright Colorado, Inc. v. City & County of Denver, 937 F.2d 1502, 1511 (10th Cir.1991) (The availability of Parker immunity ... does not depend on the subjective motivation of the individual actors. (quotation omitted)). Regardless of their intent, the private defendants are therefore immune from liability under the LGAA for their purchase of the mining interests.