In Simon v. KeySpan Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs claims on the ground that the filed rate doctrine blocked a consumer class action alleging that KeySpan used a complex financial transaction to overcharge New York City electricity buyers. The filed rate doctrine holds […]
Category Archives: Filed Rate Doctrine
Farmers May Challenge Filed Rate for Nonfat Dry Milk
September 9, 2012 – 10:53 am
In Carlin et al. v. DairyAmerica Inc. et al., , the Ninth Circuit reversed the lower court and held that the filed-rate doctrine did not bar dairy farmers from challenging a buyers’ coalition that allegedly skewed prices by providing lowball rates to a milk pricing overseer. The decision reinstated a series of cases that in […]
Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Title Insurance Price Fixing Suit
August 6, 2012 – 7:40 pm
In Jordan Katz et al. v. Fidelity National Title Insurance et al., the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a consolidated class action accusing 22 title insurers of conspiring with an Ohio rating bureau to fix prices. In their suit, plaintiffs claimed that the title insurers violated the Sherman Act and Ohio’s Valentine Act when […]
Sixth Circuit Revives Suit Involving Energy Rebates
July 2, 2012 – 4:49 pm
In Williams et al. v. Duke Energy International, Inc. et al., the Sixth Circuit found that a putative antitrust class action, alleging that Duke Energy Corp. gave unlawful rebates to General Motors Co. and several major corporations, was wrongfully dismissed by an Ohio federal court. In 2009, the lower court ruled that because of the filed-rate doctrine […]
Third Circuit Antitrust Exemption Does Not Require Close Scrutiny by Rate Regulators
July 2, 2012 – 4:33 pm
The Third Circuit, through a panel including retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, relied on the filed-rate doctrine to hold that a rate-setting agency need not closely scrutinize a rate application in order to trigger an exemption from the antitrust laws. The homeowner plaintiffs had argued that New Jersey and Delaware title insurers […]
Power Purchaser Lacks Standing
June 1, 2011 – 3:32 pm
Update June 2011: The court denied the plaintiff’s motion to reconsider its decision. Southern District of NY Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that Plaintiff, Charles Simon, lacked standing to sue electric power supplier KeySpan and Morgan Stanley for allegedly manipulating the price of power sold to Simon’s utility, Con Edison. KeySpan paid $12 million to settle […]
Insurance Fee Setting Protected by Filed Rate Doctrine
October 15, 2009 – 12:27 pm
In In Re: New Jersey Title Insurance Litigation, New Jersey District Court Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. has tossed an antitrust action that accused more than a dozen major title insurers of conspiring with a New Jersey rating bureau to fix prices. In urging dismissal the defendants maintained that the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by […]
Coastal Shipping Cartel Civil Case Dismissed Without Prejudice
August 23, 2009 – 11:10 am
Update August 2009: Judge Thomas Zilly, Western District of Washington, dismissed a private civil action alleging a conspiracy to increase prices in Pacific shipping routes. The court held that the plaintiffs allegations of parallel price increases in a market with rising fuel costs and guilty pleas by executives relating to shipping in another geographic area […]