S.D.N.Y. Dismisses Cotton Traders’ § 1 Claims Under Copperweld

p>On September 30, 2014, the Southern District of New York reconsidered the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) and Sherman Act claims brought against Louis Dreyfus Commodities B.V. and its affiliates in In re Term Commodities Cotton Futures Litigation, 12 Civ. 5126 (ALC)(KNF) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2014).  The plaintiffs, cotton futures traders, alleged that the defendants manipulated the price of cotton futures by "unreasonably and uneconomically demanding delivery of certificated cotton in fulfillment of futures contracts," among other allegations of manipulative behavior.  In December 2013, the court denied defendants' motion to dismiss, and defendants subsequently moved for reconsideration.  On reconsideration, the court dismissed plaintiffs' § 1 claim under the intra-enterprise conspiracy doctrine set forth in Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp., 467 U.S. 752 (1984), but declined to dismiss the CEA or § 2 claims.