Court Opinion

ID: 9473829
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:40:41.218464+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:45.234146
License: Public Domain

FAGG, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
In my view, Victorian House failed to present sufficient evidence of a conspiracy. The evidence presented by Victorian House does not “tend[ ] to exclude the possibility of independent action by [Fisher]” as it must under Monsanto Corp. v. Spray-Rite Service Corp., 465 U.S. 752, 104 S.Ct. 1464, 1473, 79 L.Ed.2d 775 (1984). To the contrary, it is clear under the evidence that Fisher’s president, acting independently of sales representative Thomas, made his own determination that Victorian House met Fisher’s termination criteria. The evidence in this case does not “reasonably tend[ ] to prove that [Fisher] and others had a conscious commitment to a common scheme designed to achieve an unlawful objective.” Id. I would thus reverse the judgment of the district court.