Opinion ID: 195406
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Speculative Nature of the Damages

Text: 42 The district court found that [g]iven that an extended chain of independent events would have had to have occurred to give credence to the Plaintiff's damages claim on behalf of SMC, the damages claims were at best, highly speculative. 828 F.Supp. at 118. Sullivan claims that damages to SMC are measurable in terms of the enhanced market value of the stadium which would have resulted from the planned renovations, the extension of the lease with the Patriots, and the potential for deals with promoters for other entertainment and sports events. We think that calculating these damages would necessitate wide ranging speculation, Southaven Land Co., 715 F.2d at 1088, about the future value of a refinanced, renovated, debt-free stadium with a new lease. Because the harm to SMC was indirect, and was caused, in part, by independent intervening factors (notably, its prior serious indebtedness, as well as its failure to secure additional sources of commercial financing), we agree with the district court that SMC's damages claims are highly speculative, and are an additional factor weighing against a grant of standing in this case. See Associated General Contractors, 459 U.S. at 542, 103 S.Ct. at 910 (finding that damages were speculative because injury was indirect, and because it may have been produced by independent intervening factors). 43 The Ninth Circuit's holding in Los Angeles Coliseum is not to the contrary. In that case, the estimated damages claimed by the Coliseum included claims for lost profits that would have been earned had luxury stadium boxes been built in the Coliseum and rented for the 1980 football season. 791 F.2d at 1366. The court noted these estimates may have been unfounded due to lack of proof of causation. Id. Nonetheless, the court upheld the damages award, holding that even without considering the elements in question (lost profits from would-have-been luxury boxes), there was sufficient evidence, including attendance and seat price estimates offered by the Raiders, to uphold the total award of damages. Id. 44 Los Angeles Coliseum is distinguishable in several important respects. As the Ninth Circuit found, the Coliseum suffered direct harm as a result of the NFL's antitrust violation: but for the NFL's interference in its negotiations with the Raiders, the Coliseum likely would have secured their tenancy. Id. at 1365. The damages suffered were therefore intimately connected with the antitrust violation. Moreover, losses based on attendance and ticket price estimates were the foreseeable result of these damages, and are precisely the type of damages courts can calculate easily. By contrast, the asserted harm here is indirect, and likely the result, at least in part, of independent intervening factors; nor is the enhanced market value of a refinanced, renovated, debt-free stadium with a new lease easy to calculate. It is the combination of these factors that leads us to conclude that any damages to SMC as a result of the alleged antitrust violation are highly speculative. See Associated General Contractors, 459 U.S. at 542, 103 S.Ct. at 910. 45 Having considered the relevant Associated General Contractors' factors, we conclude that the balance in this case weighs against a grant of standing. We therefore conclude that Sullivan may not pursue an antitrust action on behalf of SMC. 46