Blawgletter just wrote a paper for an American Bar Association newsletter. It starts thus:
You know that the Supreme Court took no antitrust cases in its (current) October 2010 Term, right? You feel either sad (defense lawyer) or happy (plaintiff side), yes? We’ll have no Twombly,[1] no Leegin,[2] no Weyerhaeuser,[3] no Empagran,[4] not even a Credit Suisse[5] or an American Needle[6] in 2011, you think? No big changes in the antitrust firmament, correct?
Hah.
[1] Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) (creating plausibility test for pleading causes of action and affirming dismissal of antitrust claim alleging that local telephone companies conspired not to compete outside their respective historical territories). Blawgletter posts here, here, here, and here.
[2] Leegin Creative Leather Prods., Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 877 (2007) (overruling per se treatment of antitrust claims alleging vertical price restraints under Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., 220 U.S. 373 (1911)). Blawgletter post here.
[3] Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber Co., 549 U.S. 312 (2007) (holding that predatory bidding on product inputs claim required proof that bidder lost money on sales of output goods but would likely recoup the loss later). Blawgletter post here.
[4] F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A., 542 U.S. 155 (2004) (ruling that Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act barred price-fixing claims by foreign buyers of goods).
You can read the rest in Business Torts and RICO News.