For the Oakland Athletics, that territory is comprised of two California counties: Alameda and Contra Costa. Background Major League Baseball’s (MLB)1 constitution requires that each of the league’s 30 member clubs play their home games within a designated operating territory. It joins the long line of litigants that have sought to overturn one of federal law’s most enduring anomalies. OPINION KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge: The City of San Jose steps up to the plate to challenge the baseball industry’s 92-year old exemption from the antitrust laws. of Proskauer Rose LLP, Los Angeles, California for Appellees. Cooper, Sarah Kroll-Rosenbaum, Jennifer L. Ruskin of Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, New York, and Scott P. Gorman of Keker & Van Nest LLP, San Francisco, California, and Bradley I. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. * This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. Damrell, Jr., Anne Marie Murphy, Camilo ArtigaPurcell of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, Burlingame, California, and Richard Doyle, Nora Frimann of the Office of the City Attorney, San Jose, California for Appellants. 1972), Flood is not limited to baseball’s “reserve clause.” Rather, antitrust claims against Major League Baseball’s franchise relocation policies are in the heartland of those precluded by Flood’s rationale. The panel held that under Portland Baseball Club, Inc. 258 (1972), barred San Jose’s antitrust claim regarding franchise relocation under the Sherman and Clayton Acts and state law.
The panel held that the baseball industry’s historic exemption from the antitrust laws, upheld in Flood v.
COMM’R OF BASEBALL SUMMARY* Antitrust / Baseball Exemption The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the City of San Jose’s antitrust action regarding the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball’s delay in deciding whether to approve the Oakland Athletics’ move to San Jose, which is within the exclusive operating territory of the San Francisco Giants. Opinion by Judge Kozinski 2 CITY OF SAN JOSE V. Whyte, Senior District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted August 12, 2014-San Francisco, California Filed JanuBefore: Alex Kozinski, Barry G. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Ronald M. OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF BASEBALL, an unincorporated association, DBA Major League Baseball ALLAN HUBER SELIG, “Bud,” Defendants-Appellees. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.įOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT CITY OF SAN JOSE CITY OF SAN JOSE AS SUCCESSOR AGENCY TO THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF SAN JOSE THE SAN JOSE DIRIDON DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, Plaintiffs-Appellants, No. An independent claim under California's unfair competition law is also barred so long as MLB's activities are lawful under the antitrust laws. Further, the City's antitrust claims necessarily fall with its federal claims where the City can point to no case that has ever held that state antitrust claims continue to be viable after federal antitrust claims have been dismissed under the baseball exemption. Therefore, the City's claims under the Sherman Act and Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. v Kuhn, the court rejected any antitrust claim that was wholly unrelated to the reserve clause. Kuhn, and, under Portland Baseball Club, Inc. The court held, however, that antitrust claims against MLB's franchise relocation policies are precluded by Flood v. The City argues that the baseball industry's historic exemption from the antitrust laws does not apply to antitrust claims relating to franchise relocation. The district court granted MLB's motion to dismiss on all but the tort claims and the City appealed. The City, seeking approval of the move, filed suit against MLB, alleging violations of state and federal antitrust laws, of California's consumer protection statute, and of California tort law. This case arose when the Oakland Athletics wanted to move to the City of San Jose, but the City falls within the exclusive operating territory of the San Francisco Giants.