Winstar Communications, LLC v. Equity Office Properties, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the United States Courthouse, Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 8th day of March, two thousand six.
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court be AFFIRMED.
Winstar Communications, LLC and Winstar of New York, LLC (collectively,
This Court reviews de novo a district court’s dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ.P., and should affirm only if “it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claims which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S. Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); see also Connolly v. McCall, 254 F.3d 36, 40 (2d Cir. 2001).
This Court applies a two-pronged test to determine whether a plaintiff has antitrust standing: we determine (1) whether the plaintiff suffered an antitrust injury, and then (2) “whether any of the other factors, largely relating to the directness and identifiability of the plaintiffs injury, prevent the plaintiff from being an efficient enforcer of the antitrust laws.” Balaklaw v. Lovell, 14 F.3d 793, 798 (2d Cir. 1994) (citing Todorov v. DCH Healthcare Authority, 921 F.2d 1438, 1449 (11th Cir. 1991)). An antitrust injury is defined as an injury “of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent and that flow from that which makes [a defendant’s act] unlawful.” Brunswick Corp. v. Pueblo Bowl-O-Mat, 429 U.S. 477, 489, 97 S.Ct. 690, 50 L.Ed.2d 701 (1977); see also Balaklaw, 14 F.3d at 797. In any antitrust case (per se or rule of reason), a plaintiff must allege a competition-reducing effect on the relevant market. See Atlantic Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum Co., 495 U.S. 328, 341-42, 110 S.Ct. 1884, 109 L.Ed.2d 333 (1990); see generally Daniel C. Richman, Antitrust Standing, Antitrust Injury, and the Per Se Standard, 93 Yale L.J. 1309, 1329.
Here, Winstar defines the relevant market as the “provision of telecommunications services to tenants in commercial buildings.” But the injuries it alleges bear upon a different market — i.e., the market for “building access” — and therefore are mere collateral effects on an individual participant or competitor in a secondary market. As such, Winstar’s allegations lend no support to the charge that competition was restrained in the relevant market in which Winstar participated, a requirement of any antitrust suit. See Brunswick, 429 U.S. at 488, 97 S.Ct. 690 (“The antitrust laws ... were enacted for the protection of competition, not competitors.” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)); see also Balaklaw, 14 F.3d at 800 (citing Standard Oil Co. of California v. United States, 337 U.S. 293, 69 S.Ct. 1051, 93 L.Ed. 1371 (1949)) (same). Accordingly, because Winstar has failed to adduce facts of an antitrust injury to the relevant market, we agree with the district court that Winstar lacked standing to bring the present suit.
For the reasons set forth above, the judgment of the district court is hereby AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WINSTAR COMMUNICATIONS, LLC and Winstar of New York, LLC v. EQUITY OFFICE PROPERTIES, INC., Building Owners and Managers Association of New York, Spectrasite Building Group, Inc., Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. and Prestonwood Tower-Dallas, Inc., Colonnade Properties, LLC, Taylor Simpson Capital Management, LP, Boxes Property Management Corp., Arden Realty, Inc., LLC, BGK Properties, Inc., Rossmor Partners, LLC, Watt Property Management, Inc., Brit Limited Partnership, Beco Management, Inc., Mac Management Company, Inc., Barnard Partners VII, Ltd., 510 Marquette Property, Inc., 520 Marquette Property, Inc., Baumann Raymondo & Co., the Prospect Co., W & A, LLC, The Chancery Sentinel, LLC, Diamond Hill Operating Associates, LP, One River Plaza Co., an Ohio Limited Partnership, Shorenstein Company, LLC, and Hines Corporate Properties, LLC.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published