JTC Petroleum Co. v. Piasa Motor Fuels, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
190 F.3d 775 (1999)
JTC Petroleum (plaintiff) paved roads and sued a group of asphalt producers and paving contractors (defendants) for antitrust violations. JTC claimed the contractors agreed not to bid against each other and paid the producers to refuse to sell asphalt to JTC or to any other company that wouldn't join the arrangement. As evidence, JTC pointed to the contractors paying unusually high prices to producers compared to a similar nearby market, and to producers giving shifting, pretextual excuses for refusing to sell to JTC -- one cited bad credit, then still refused JTC's cash offer. JTC settled with the producers and half the contractors, and the district court granted summary judgment to the rest. JTC appealed.
Whether a plaintiff has presented enough circumstantial evidence -- such as unexplained price differences and pretextual refusals to deal -- to let a jury find that competitors colluded and excluded a rival in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act.