The US District Court of Connecticut gives a ruling in a motion filed by the defendants in the aerospace’s labor market allocation case to dismiss an indictment on various grounds related to the per se rule (Mahesh Patel / Robert Harvey / Harpreet Wasan / Steven Houghtaling / Tom Edwards / Gary Prus)

The defendants in the aerospace’s labor market allocation case, US v. Patel, No.3-21-cr-220 (D. Conn. Dec. 2, 2022) (VAB), filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on various grounds related to the application of the per se rule in a criminal trial. These grounds include: 1) the conduct charged does not fall within the per se rule; 2) the conduct charged was ancillary to a procompetitive agreement and therefore not subject to per se treatment; 3) the alleged agreement was vertical in nature; 4) the charge violates the notice provisions of the Due Process Clause; and 5) the prosecution of this conduct as a per se violation would unconstitutionally usurp the jury’s role to determine all of the facts necessary to establish each element in violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendment. The