Seventh Circuit Takes Broad View Of FTAIA

Overview

In a much-awaited decision, the Seventh Circuit has taken a broad view of the ability of U.S. courts to hear antitrust cases concerning alleged foreign cartel activity that plaintiffs contend has effects in the U.S. The Court's ruling reviving a cartel case in the potash industry is likely to make it easier for future litigants to sue foreign defendants in U.S. courts for alleged cartel activity occurring overseas.

The decision also can be expected to have implications on criminal cartel investigations launched by the Department of Justice. By expressly adopting the Department's interpretation of what constitutes commerce having "direct" effects on the U.S., the decision will further bolster the Department's cartel enforcement activities, which have focused increasingly in recent years on foreign-based cartel activity that the Department contends has had effects in the U.S.