E & L Consulting, Ltd. v. Doman Industries Ltd.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
472 F.3d 23 (2006)
E & L Consulting (plaintiff) distributed lumber on commission for Doman Industries (defendant), which held a 95 percent market share in lumber manufacturing; after Doman also began supplying Sherwood Lumber (defendant) under a separate resale arrangement and later terminated E & L in favor of making Sherwood its exclusive distributor, E & L sued Doman and Sherwood, claiming the exclusive arrangement harmed competition under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The district court dismissed the complaint.
Whether a manufacturer with a monopoly share of the relevant market violates antitrust laws by appointing an exclusive distributor, absent a showing of actual adverse effect on market-wide competition.