Seventh Circuit States that Allegations of Direct Evidence of an Agreement in an Antitrust Lawsuit is Not Essential to Survive Twombly

January 26, 2011

In a recent opinion authored by Judge Posner, the Seventh Circuit refined the standards for surviving motions to dismiss under Twombly. In that case-In re Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation-the plaintiffs claimed that major cellular-phone providers conspired to fix prices of text-messaging services. The plaintiffs' complaint alleged that the defendants implemented a policy of "co-opetition" by exchanging price information at trade-association meetings, increasing prices despite falling costs, and simultaneously adopting a common pricing structure. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a motion to dismiss, and concluded that the plaintiffs' complaint provided a sufficiently plausible case of price fixing to meet Twombly and Iqbal pleading standards. The court noted that even though the second amended complaint did not have a "smoking gun," the post-Twombly law does not require that the allegations "compel an inference of conspiracy," and continues to allow plaintiffs to rely on circumstantial evidence at the pleading stage.

@ Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. 

The articles on our website include some of the publications and papers authored by our attorneys, both before and after they joined our firm. The content of these articles should not be taken as legal advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or official position of Robins Kaplan LLP.

Disclaimer

Related Publications

November 8, 2024
Destination Skiing And The DOJ's Mountain Merger Challenge
William Reiss, Ellen Jalkut - Law360
March 14, 2024
How Many Cases Have You Tried to a Verdict?
Gabriel Berg, Lauren Coppola - New York Law Journal
January 3, 2024
Navigating Class Actions After Papa John's Settlement Denial
Law360 - William Reiss, Ellen Jalkut, Laura Song
Fall 2023
All Is Not Lost: Personal Jurisdiction in a Post-BMS World
Jonathan Edelman - Antitrust Magazine
August 21, 2023
Colorado Expands Antitrust Protection
William Reiss and Ellen Jalkut - Colorado State Antitrust Act of 2023
Back to Top