On March 27, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 3rd Circuit Court of appeals which affirmed a District Court decision certifying a class action against Comcast Cable Company. The lawsuit sought to certify a class of over 2 million current and former Comcast subscribers seeking damages for alleged antitrust violations.
The Plaintiffs in the underlying lawsuit proposed the following 4 theories of antitrust impact:
- Decreased penetration by satellite providers;
- Overbuilder deterrence;
- Lack of benchmark competition; and
- Increased bargaining power.
The District Court, which was affirmed by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, accepted the overbuilder theory as capable of classwide proof and rejected the other 3 theories and certified the class.
On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed. The Court found:
- The damages model utilized by the Plaintiffs' expert failed to measure damages based upon the accepted theory of antitrust impact;
- Rather the Plaintiffs' expert took into account all 4 theories in his damages model;
- The expert failed to attribute which damages were related to the overbuilder theory;
- Therefore, the potential class was not entitled to certification.
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