In O’Brien et al. v. Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc., Kansas Supreme Court overturned a state district court decision to grant Brighton Collectibles, a unit of Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc., summary judgment in the state antitrust consumer class action suit. In their suit, the plaintiffs allege that Brighton’s policy, requiring all of its retailers to sell their products at Brighton’s suggested retail prices, constitutes illegal price-fixing under state antitrust laws. Kansas state district court granted Brighton’s motion for summary judgment, holding that O’Brien did not present concrete evidence that she paid higher prices due to Brighton’s pricing policy, and that a 2007 Supreme Court decision that upheld this pricing policy, preempted the state suit. Kansas Supreme Court disagreed, holding that (1) the language of Brighton’s pricing policy is subject to an inference that it was for the purpose of fixing prices; (2) the policy was designed to and tended to control the prices of Brighton’s goods; (3) O’Brien presented enough circumstantial evidence that consumers actually paid prices for Brighton goods, inflated by the pricing policy; and (4) the federal decision does not preempt the present state claims.
3 Comments