Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. San Juan Cable, LLC

885 F. Supp. 2d 534, 2012 WL 3245433, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112898
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedAugust 10, 2012
DocketCivil No. 11-2135 (GAG)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 885 F. Supp. 2d 534 (Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. San Juan Cable, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. San Juan Cable, LLC, 885 F. Supp. 2d 534, 2012 WL 3245433, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112898 (prd 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GUSTAVO A. GELPÍ, District Judge.

Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Inc. (“Plaintiff’) brings this action seeking damages for violations of federal antitrust laws and state Anti-Monopoly laws by San Juan Cable LLC d/b/a/ Onelink Communications (“Defendant”). Plaintiff claims Defendant committed violations of Sections two and three of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2 and 3, as well as the Puerto Rico Anti-Monopoly Act, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 10, §§ 257-276. Presently before the court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted (Docket No. 22). Plaintiff opposed this motion (Docket No. 23).1 After reviewing the parties’ submissions and the pertinent law, the court DENIES Defendant’s motion (Docket No. 22).

I. Standard of Review

“The general rules of pleading require a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Gargano v. Liberty Intern. Underwriters, Inc., 572 F.3d 45, 48 (1st Cir. 2009) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). “This short and plain statement need only ‘give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’ ” Id. (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)).

Under Rule 12(b)(6), a defendant may move to dismiss an action against him for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter “to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570,127 S.Ct. 1955. The court must decide whether the complaint alleges enough facts to “raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Id. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. In so doing, the court accepts as true all well-pleaded facts and draws all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor. Parker v. Hurley, 514 F.3d 87, 90 (1st Cir.2008). However, “the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). “[W]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged — but it has not ‘show[n]’ — ‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. at 1950 (quoting Fed.R.CivP. 8(a)(2)).

II. Discussion

Defendant asserts two reasons that support dismissal of Plaintiffs claims. First, Defendant argues the conduct Plaintiff

[537]*537complains of is immunized under the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine. (See Docket No. 22 at 9.) Second, Defendant argues that Plaintiff has failed to allege an antitrust injury. (See id. at 30.)

A. Noerr-Pennington Doctrine

Those who petition the government for redress are generally immune from antitrust liability. See Prof'l Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Indus., Inc., 508 U.S. 49, 56, 113 S.Ct. 1920, 123 L.Ed.2d 611 (1993) (“PRE”). However, the Supreme Court has created an exception to this general rule when the petition seeking redress is a sham. See id. (citing E. R.R. Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc., 365 U.S. 127, 81 S.Ct. 523, 5 L.Ed.2d 464 (1961)). This exception was extended to cover proceedings in front of administrative agencies in California Motor Transp. Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 92 S.Ct. 609, 30 L.Ed.2d 642 (1972).

In order to fit into the sham exception, the proceedings must be objectively unreasonable. See PRE, 508 U.S. at 58, 113 S.Ct. 1920. A sham is “evidenced by repetitive lawsuits carrying the hallmark of insubstantial claims.” Otter Tail Power Co. v. United States, 410 U.S. 366, 380, 93 S.Ct. 1022, 35 L.Ed.2d 359 (1973). The PRE Court outlined a two-part definition of sham litigation stating “the lawsuit must be objectively baseless in the sense that no reasonable litigant could realistically expect success on the merits” and “whether the baseless lawsuit conceals an attempt to interfere directly with the business relationships of a competitor through the use [of] the governmental process — as opposed to the outcome of that process — as an anti-competitive weapon.” PRE, 508 U.S. at 60, 113 S.Ct. 1920 (internal quotation marks omitted) (internal citations omitted). The court should only discuss the second prong if the lawsuit is found to be objectively baseless. Essentially, a sham is when an action is commenced without a genuine belief it will end with a favorable result, but rather with the intention of delaying or interfering with another.

Since the PRE decision, there is a split in precedent deciding if the objectively baseless requirement applies to a pattern of legal proceedings. Both the Second and Ninth Circuits have held this requirement applies when determining if one action constitutes a sham, but does not apply when the challenged proceedings constitute a pattern of repetitive litigation. See USS-POSCO Indus. v. Contra Costa County Bldg. & Const. Trades Council, AFL-CIO, 31 F.3d 800, 810-11 (9th Cir. 1994) (“Professional Real Estate Investors provides a strict two-step analysis to assess whether a single action constitutes sham petitioning.”); Primetime 24 Joint Venture v. Nat’l Broad., Co., Inc., 219 F.3d 92, 100-01 (2d Cir.2000). Various district courts have held the objectively baseless requirement to apply to cases asserting a pattern of proceedings. See e.g., Christian Mem’l Cultural Ctr., Inc. v. Michigan Funeral Dirs. Ass’n, 998 F.Supp. 772, 777 n. 2 (E.D.Mich.1998).

In California Motor, the Court recognized that the filing of a series of litigation has more serious implications than one singular suit. See USS-POSCO, 31 F.3d at 811.

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885 F. Supp. 2d 534, 2012 WL 3245433, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112898, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/puerto-rico-telephone-co-v-san-juan-cable-llc-prd-2012.