In United National Maintenance, Inc. v. San Diego Convention
Center, Inc., No. 12-56809, 2014 WL 2094545 (9th Cir. May 14,
2014), the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the San
Diego Convention center enjoyed state action immunity from
antitrust claims brought by a supplier of cleaning services whose
business was negatively impacted by the convention center's
decision to be the exclusive supplier of cleaning services.
The California Legislature specifically authorized San Diego
(and other cities) not only to build a convention center, but also
to create a commission that would "manage the use" of the
convention center. This type of managerial authorization, the court
held, was sufficient to make any anticompetitive effects the result
of a clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed state
policy—the first prong of the test for state action immunity.
The 9th Circuit also held that the center did not need to meet the
second state action immunity requirement
