Opinion ID: 408097
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Attempt to block NFO's qualification.

Text: 94 To effectively compete in the marketing of milk, NFO had to become qualified by the USDA on various federal market orders. See Id. at 439-441. Mid-Am, AMPI and CMPC engaged in a series of governmental contacts aimed at blocking NFO from becoming so qualified. Contacts were made with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, the Missouri attorney general, regional USDA administrators and more senior USDA officials. At one point, these defendants proposed an amendment to the definition of cooperative association which would have seriously hampered NFO's efforts to become qualified. Some of the letters, requests and initiatives were made by Mid-Am or AMPI alone, although copies of such correspondence were typically circulated to the other co-op or co-ops. The effort clearly was a coordinated one joined in by CMPC, AMPI and Mid-Am, the purpose of which was to foreclose NFO from the marketing of Grade A milk under Federal Orders as a qualified cooperative. Id. at 458; see also id. at 469, 480-481. 95 The three co-ops contend that they objected to NFO in good faith and that, in any event, their efforts cannot constitute an antitrust violation because of the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. Whether the objections to NFO were in good faith is arguable. When NFO became qualified to market milk in Chicago, for example, CMPC solicited NFO to join and market through CMPC. It thus would appear that at least CMPC's concern was related as much to NFO's independence as to its atypical structure. 96 The Noerr-Pennington doctrine, however, does exempt the concerted effort to block NFO's qualification. Absent a sham, joint efforts to influence public officials, even if intended to eliminate competition, are not illegal either standing alone or as part of a broader scheme itself violative of the Sherman Act. United Mine Workers v. Pennington, 381 U.S. 657, 670, 85 S.Ct. 1585, 1593, 14 L.Ed.2d 626 (1965); Feminist Women's Health Center v. Mohammad, 586 F.2d 530, 542-543 (5th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 924, 100 S.Ct. 262, 62 L.Ed.2d 180 (1979). The sham exception generally involves governmental contacts which are not a genuine attempt to influence official decision making, but instead are merely an attempt to interfere directly with the business relationships of a competitor. See Feminist Women's Health Center v. Mohammad, supra, 586 F.2d at 543; Fischel, Antitrust Liability for Attempts to Influence Government Action: The Basis and Limits of the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine, 45 U.Chi.L.Rev. 80, 105-111 (1977). Here, NFO's structure and some of its programs were not typical of farmer cooperatives, see supra, at 1184-1185, and we cannot say that the attempts to block it from being deemed a qualified cooperative were not genuine attempts to influence official policymaking. Thus, the pattern of governmental contacts are not actionable alone or as an element of the larger scheme. 19 97 Exempt conduct may be considered, however, to the extent it tends to show the purpose or character of other, nonexempt activity. United Mine Workers v. Pennington, supra, 381 U.S. at 671 n.3, 85 S.Ct. at 1594 n.3; Feminist Women's Health Center v. Mohammad, supra, 586 F.2d at 543; Webb v. Utah Tour Brokers Assoc., 568 F.2d 670, 672 (10th Cir. 1977). Here, the district court's findings are noteworthy because they show CMPC, AMPI and Mid-Am acting in concert with the specific intent to block NFO from competing as a qualified cooperative. While not illegal because of the exemption, this conduct does have evidentiary value as to the purpose and concerted character of these co-ops' contemporaneous nonexempt activities. 98