The US Supreme Court leaves in place third circuit rule welcoming challenges to foreign conduct into U.S. Courts (Animal Science)

This week the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not review a Third Circuit decision (Animal Science) that made it easier for antitrust plaintiffs to bring claims in U.S. courts for conduct occurring overseas under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act (“FTAIA”). The Supreme Court’s decision to deny review means that the plaintiff-friendly rule remains the law, at least in the Third Circuit and also in the Northern District of California (which in the LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation case followed the Animal Science approach. (See our prior alert on these cases.) The FTAIA provides that the Sherman Act does not reach conduct outside the United States, with a few exceptions. Specifically, the