Vermont Mobile Home Owners' Ass'n v. Lapierre

131 F. Supp. 2d 553, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1685
CourtDistrict Court, D. Vermont
DecidedFebruary 1, 2001
DocketNo. 2:97-CV-209
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 131 F. Supp. 2d 553 (Vermont Mobile Home Owners' Ass'n v. Lapierre) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vermont Mobile Home Owners' Ass'n v. Lapierre, 131 F. Supp. 2d 553, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1685 (D. Vt. 2001).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTION FOR JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW

SESSIONS, District Judge.

The remaining defendants in this case, Nicole Lapierre, Andre Lapierre and La-pierre Enterprises (“the Lapierres”) have moved for judgment as a matter of law on the federal antitrust and state consumer fraud and mobile home claims, pursuant to Rule 50(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons that follow, the Lapierres’ motion is granted, and the suit is dismissed.

Rule 50(a) provides that a motion for judgment as a matter of law may be granted if “a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party on that issue.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1). A court may grant judgment as a matter of law when the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving parties, with every reasonable inference drawn in their favor, and without regard to its weight, yields but one conclusion as to the verdict that reasonable jurors can reach. Merrill Lynch Interjunding, Inc. v. Argenti, 155 F.3d 113, 120-121 (2d Cir.1998).

In this case the Lapierres claim that the Plaintiffs have provided insufficient evidence that they have engaged in illegal [556]*556tying, or that they have charged an illegal entrance fee. The Court finds that Plaintiffs have not introduced evidence from which reasonable jurors could conclude that the Lapierres enjoyed market power, that there were anticompetitive effects in the market for mobile homes, that the Plaintiffs suffered antitrust injury, or that they sustained damages. Consequently the antitrust claim must be dismissed. The Court further finds that Plaintiffs’ evidence that they were charged an illegal entrance fee is legally insufficient as well. Antitrust Claim

A tying arrangement is “an agreement by a party to sell one product but only on the condition that the buyer also purchase [ ] a different (or tied) product.” Yentsch v. Texaco, Inc., 630 F.2d 46, 56 (2d Cir.1980). “[T]he essential characteristic of an invalid tying arrangement lies in the seller’s exploitation of its control over the tying product to force the buyer into the purchase of a tied product that the buyer either did not want at all, or might have preferred to purchase elsewhere on different terms.” Jefferson Parish Hosp. Dist. No. 2 v. Hyde, 466 U.S. 2, 12, 104 S.Ct. 1551, 80 L.Ed.2d 2 (1984). In the Second Circuit, proof of five elements are required for a claim of illegal tying:

first, a tying and a tied product; second, evidence of actual coercion by the seller that forced the buyer to accept the tied product; third, sufficient economic power in the tying product market to coerce purchaser acceptance of the tied product; fourth, anticompetitive effects in the tied market; and fifth, the involvement of a “not insubstantial” amount of interstate commerce in the “tied” market.

Hack v. President and Fellows of Yale Coll., 237 F.3d 81, 85-86 (2d Cir.2000), quoting DeJesus v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 87 F.3d 65, 70 (2d Cir.1996).

Plaintiffs have presented evidence that the Lapierres had an arrangement whereby they leased mobile home lots (the “tying” product) only on the condition that the tenant purchase his or her mobile home (the “tied” product) from the La-pierres or one of their designated dealers. They have presented evidence that the two products are distinct, rather than parts of a single product. Plaintiffs have also presented evidence from which reasonable minds could conclude that there was actual coercion, that buyers were required to purchase their mobile homes from certain dealers or from the Lapierres themselves when they might have preferred to purchase their mobile homes elsewhere. See Capital Temporaries v. Olsten Corp., 506 F.2d 658, 666 (2d Cir.1974).1

Although the first two elements of an illegal tying claim survive the Lapierres’ pre-verdict motion for judgment as a matter of law, the third element, economic power in the tying product market, does not. The Plaintiffs contend that the La-pierres enjoy market power, an advantage over their competitors that has enabled them to require a buyer to do something that the buyer would not do in a competitive market. They have presented some evidence of uniqueness with regard to the Lapierres’ mobile home lots. “[U]niqueness of a product can trigger a tying arrangement claim.” Hack v. Yale, id. “Where uniqueness is alleged, questions of market definition and market power will inevitably blend together,” however. Id. The Plaintiffs have presented some evidence that the relevant product market is new mobile homes (although mobile homes are alleged to be the tied, not the tying product).

Where the Plaintiffs’ market power evidence disintegrated was with their expert’s assertion that the relevant geographic market for mobile home park lots was [557]*557confined to the City of St. Albans, and/or the surrounding Franklin County, Vermont. The evidence demonstrated that Plaintiffs had looked into housing in Vermont’s Franklin and Chittenden Counties, as well as further afield. Ordinarily, discrepancies in the evidence and credibility of witnesses is for the jury to resolve. But the Plaintiffs’ expert rendered his opinion that the Lapierres enjoyed market power in the market defined as Franklin County. The Plaintiffs’ proposed jury interrogatories, submitted on the same day as the expert’s testimony, asked the jury to define the relevant geographic market as Franklin and Chittenden Counties. See Pis.’ Proposed Jury Interrogs. at 1 (paper 307). When asked on cross-examination whether he could render an opinion about the Lapierres’ market power if the relevant geographic market were the two counties, the expert replied that he could not. Using the Plaintiffs’ own proposed definition of the geographic market, their sole expert on market power provided no evidence. On this record a reasonable juror has insufficient evidence from which to conclude anything about the relevant product and geographic markets which could result in a verdict for the Plaintiffs.

The Plaintiffs have also failed to present sufficient evidence from which reasonable jurors could conclude that there were anticompetitive effects in the market for mobile homes. Because the record shows insufficient evidence of market power to justify a per se condemnation of the tying arrangement, Plaintiffs would have to show unreasonable restraint on competition. Jefferson Parish, 466 U.S. at 29, 104 S.Ct. 1551. “Establishing a violation of the rule of reason involves three steps,” the first of which is that a plaintiff must show “that the challenged action has had an actual adverse effect on competition as a whole in the relevant market.” Clorox Co. v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

VERMONT MOBILE HOME OWNERS'ASS'N v. Lapierre
131 F. Supp. 2d 553 (D. Vermont, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 F. Supp. 2d 553, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1685, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vermont-mobile-home-owners-assn-v-lapierre-vtd-2001.