Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, SUPREME COURT DOCKET: Recent decisions, cases, and petitions pending High Court review, (Apr 29, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

This Antitrust Law Daily feature presents a chart highlighting the decisions, arguments, briefs, and petitions on antitrust and trade regulation issues before the 2014 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Currently, there are 11 antitrust and trade regulation cases that are awaiting Supreme Court Review. Since the opening of the 2014 term, the Court has issued an opinion in three antitrust cases; granted review in one additional antitrust case; and denied review in 17 other cases involving acquisitions and mergers, advertising, antitrust, consumer protection, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

On April 21, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in Oneok, Inc. v. Learjet, Inc. (Dkt. 13-271), finding that the Natural Gas Act (NGA) did not completely preempt state law antitrust claims raised by large retail buyers of natural gas seeking damages from interstate pipelines for their purported manipulation of indices that increased retail prices for natural gas. The divided Supreme Court rejected the pipelines’ argument that the claims fell within the field preempted by the NGA—“the field of matters relating to wholesale sales and transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce.” The Court’s seven-to-two decision—another win in a recent string for antitrust plaintiffs—resolves issues of field preemption. However, the pipelines can still argue before lower courts that conflict preemption bars the claims.

The National Milk Producers Federation was denied review on April 27 of a Ninth Circuit decision, denying appeal of a class certification order (2014-2 Trade Cases ¶78,910) entered by the federal district court in Oakland, California. The Oakland court certified a class of approximately 46 million consumers from 14 states and the District of Columbia to challenge an alleged conspiracy to limit the production, and thereby increase the price of raw milk (National Milk Producers Federation v. Edwards, Dkt. 14-1078).

Yesterday, it was reported that the U.S. Supreme Court denied review in Dow Chemical Co. v. Industrial Polymer, Inc. (Dkt. 14-1091). However, the Supreme Court has not denied Dow’s petition, which remains pending. Antitrust Law Daily regrets this error.

For details about these and other petitions and cases pending before the Supreme Court, please consult the chart of antitrust and trade regulation cases awaiting decision in the 2014 term. Issued opinions, granted petitions, pending petitions, and denied petitions are listed separately, along with a summary of the questions presented and the current status of each case.

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