An Overview: Municipal Antitrust Liability

Abstract

This article is an introduction to an antitrust symposium regarding municipal liability. The article provides an overview of municipal antitrust liability in the context of the Supreme Court's decision in City of Lafayette v. Louisiana Power & Light. Prior to the Court's decision in City of Lafayette, city officials tended to view the legal problems of municipalities as distant from antitrust matters such as price fixing, market allocation and other problems faced by private business entities. They were dismayed by the consequences of the Court's holding in City of Lafayette: antitrust seemed to be a difficult legal specialty, antitrust litigation was perceived as complex, and potential damages could be astronomical. As this introduction explains, the world of municipal officials has not been shattered by the Supreme Court's decision in City of Lafayette. Their world, however, is different; new legal doctrines must be learned and new legal problems must be anticipated and treated.

Keywords: municipality, antitrust, immunity