The Third Circuit dismissed a major portion of the Insurance Brokers’ Antitrust Litigationon the ground that the complaint fails to adequately allege an a horizontal agreement among insurers. Although the plaintiffs alleged agreements between particular insurers and brokers, the insurers had sufficient incentive to enter those vertical agreements even if the insurers had not agreed among themselves. The court recognized that the insurer/broker agreements might themselves violate the law, but noted that the complaint did not challenge them. The court did hold that the plaintiffs had adequately alleged an agreement among the insurers that dealt with the broker Marsh & McLennan.
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