Vertical Price Fixing Dismissal Upheld on Appeal

The 11th Circuit upheld the dismissal of a proposed class-action against Tempur-Pedic North America Inc., ruling that the allegations did not meet the Twombly plausibility standard.  The court held that the plaintiffs failed to (1) plead a relevant market; (2) sufficiently allege that unreasonable restraint of trade was created by Tempur-Pedic’s vertical resale price maintenance agreement; or (3) adequately demonstrate the plausibility of a horizontal price-fixing agreement between Tempur-Pedic and its distributors.

Judge Kenneth L. Rykstamp dissented, arguing the majority went too far in applying Twombly and essentially require plaintiffs to prove their case from the outset. Judge Rykstamp also argued that the lower court should have allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint because the case was filed before Twombly, and Leegin.

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*