Shaking Up California’s Antitrust Law, Commercial Dispute Resolution

Partner Minna Lo Naranjo and associate Brad Fairweather provided comments to Commercial Dispute Resolution for an article about recommendations from the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) to reform the state’s antitrust laws with regard to single-firm conduct and mergers.

Minna and Braden told the publication that of the states with a single-firm conduct provision, nearly all closely align with the federal Sherman Act section 2 language. The CLRC’s proposal reflects a “middle ground approach,” they said, adding that it “contains some familiar section 2 language relating to monopolization, but also stipulates that ‘it is unlawful for one or more persons to act, cause, take or direct measures, actions, or events . . . [i]n restraint of trade, or to attempt to restrain the free exercise of competition or the freedom of trade or production[.]’”

“In its current form, we expect that courts will have to interpret and create jurisprudence on what restraints, or attempts to restrain, are actual violations of California antitrust law,” Minna and Brad said.

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