Class Action

Class Action Defense Cases–In re Dynamic Random Access Memory: Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Antitrust Class Action For Lack Of Subject Matter Jurisdiction Under Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act (FTAIA)

By Michael J. Hassen

Congressional Amendments in Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act (FTAIA) to Sherman Act’s Jurisdiction Barred Foreign Plaintiff Corporation’s Antitrust Class Action Claims Ninth Circuit Holds

Plaintiff, a British computer manufacturer, filed a class action complaint against “U.S. and foreign manufacturers and sellers of DRAM, a type of high-density memory used in personal computers and other electronic devices” for violations of federal antitrust laws and Section 1 of the Sherman Act; the class action complaint alleged violations of Sections 4(a), 12 and 16 of the Clayton Act, and sought injunctive relief and damages In re Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Antitrust Litig., 538 F.3d 1107, 1109 (9th Cir. 2008). Plaintiff alleged a “global conspiracy to fix DRAM prices, raising the price of DRAM to customers in both the United States and foreign countries.” Id., at 1109-10. Defense attorneys moved to dismiss the class action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act of 1982 (FTAIA), which amended the Sherman Act; plaintiff’s theory was that “defendants could not have raised prices worldwide and maintained their global price-fixing arrangement without fixing the DRAM prices in the United States.” Id., at 1110. The district court granted the motion and denied plaintiff leave to file an amended class action complaint, finding that plaintiff did not meet the jurisdictional prerequisites under the FTAIA “because it had not sufficiently alleged that its foreign injury was directly linked to the domestic effect of higher U.S. prices for DRAM.” Id. The Ninth Circuit affirmed.

The Ninth Circuit explained that Congress amended the jurisdictional language of the Sherman Act in 1982 by enacting the FTAIA: the FTAIA amended the Sherman Act so as to exclude “anti-competitive conduct that causes only foreign injury.” In re DRAM, at 1110 (citation omitted). The FTAIA accomplished this purpose by declaring that the Sherman Act “shall not apply to conduct involving trade or commerce ... with foreign nations.” Id. (citing § 6a). It carves out an exception, known as the “domestic injury exception,” for foreign conduct that “(1) has a ‘direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect’ on domestic commerce,” id. (citation omitted). Quoting the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit explained at page 1111 that the FTAIA's language as:

Full post as published by Class Action Defense Blog on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).