In In re: Mushroom Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Thomas N. O’Neill denied a summary judgment motion filed by defendants, who were members of the Eastern Mushroom Marketing Cooperative Inc. Defendants’ motion claimed that as a cooperative, they were shielded from Sherman Act liability by the Capper-Volstead Act. The Court rejected defendants’ argument and held that the Capper-Volstead Act exemption does not apply to EMMC because 1) one of its members was a mushroom distributor and nongrower “who had the power to participate in the control and policymaking of the association through voting,” and 2) its participation in the EMMC cannot be excused as a “de minimus technicality.” The court held that this distributor is “the very type of entity from which Capper-Volstead was designed to protect the interests of farmers/producers.” The court further held that even if EMMC was a Capper-Volstead cooperative, “Capper-Volstead was not intended to create an absolute shield from antitrust liability” and does not shield cooperatives that conspire with nonmembers.