In re: Vehicle Carrier Services Antitrust Litig. — antitrust — affirmance — Shwartz

Offhand, I can’t recall ever before seeing a Third Circuit opinion with 95 lawyers listed in the caption. The caption fills the first 11-plus pages of the slip opinion. Holy cannoli, that’s a heap of billable hours to end up at “affirm.”

Broadly, this appeal arose out of a suit brought by auto-industry plaintiffs against vehicle-shipping companies alleging that the shippers colluded to keep up prices. The district court dismissed the suit and today the Third Circuit affirmed: “Because the ocean common carriers allegedly engaged in acts prohibited by the Shipping Act of 1984 … and the Act both precludes private plaintiffs from seeking relief under the federal antitrust laws for such conduct and preempts the state law claims under circumstances like those presented here, the District Court correctly dismissed the complaints.”

Joining Shwartz were Ambro and Fuentes. Arguing counsel were Richard Kilsheimer of New York and Warren Burns of Texas for the appellants, and Mark Nelson of Cleary Gottlieb in D.C., and former Rendell clerk Jason Leckerman of Ballard Spahr for the appellees.

UPDATE: the court issued an amended opinion on 1/26 correcting typos and formatting. I’ve updated the opinion link to go to the revised version.