In its first-ever submission to the U.S. Supreme Court, the AAI urged the Court to grant certiorari in a case involving an interpretation of the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. The brief was drafted for AAI by Todd Anderson of the Washington law firm Patton & Boggs. The case involves the general settlement of tobacco litigation. After the settlement, wholesalers alleged in private antitrust actions that the tobacco companies had created a cartel to raise tobacco prices. The Third Circuit held that the plaintiffs had stated a claim for an antitrust violation and that the state action doctrine did not apply. Nonetheless, they concluded that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine protected not only the petitioning actions of the tobacco companies as they developed the Master Tobacco Settlement, but also their post-petitioning actions pursuant to the settlement. We argue that post-petitioning actions are not protected by Noerr-Pennington.
Download the amicus brief in Adobe Acrobat format.
