VISA V. OSBORN

Issue: Interchange
Court: U.S. Supreme Court

Term: October 2016
Lower Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Question Presented: 
Whether allegations that members of a business association agreed to adhere to the association's rules and possess governance rights in the association, without more, are sufficient to plead the element of conspiracy in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, as the Court of Appeals held below, or are insufficient, as the Third, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits have held.

RLC's Position:
The RLC, along with other merchant associations, filed an amicus brief urging the Court to dismiss this case as improvidently granted after the petitioners reframed their appeal at the merits stage and asked the Court to adopt a rule that would prevent members of trade associations from challenging harmful anticompetitive behavior. The current standard for potential antitrust liability for legitimate business associations is workable and should be left unchanged. 

Case Outcome:
The writ of certiorari was dismissed as improvidently granted.

Procedural History & Case Documents

• Visa's petition for certiorari filed January 2016
• Osborn brief in response filed March 2016
• Visa's reply brief filed April 2016
• Petition granted June 2016
• Visa's opening brief filed September 2016
• Consumer respondents brief filed October 2016
• Non-Consumer respondents brief filed October 2016
• Oral argument scheduled for December 2016
• Writ of certiorari dismissed November 2016

Please use the DOWNLOAD button below to access the RLC's Brief.