On April 24 in Ruling on Philly Taxis’ Suit vs. Uber, Third Circuit Reaffirms Antitrust Focus on Competition, not Competitors, one of our Featured Expert Contributors on antitrust, Baker Botts partner Anthony Swisher, wrote about a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decision that rejected a claim for attempted monopolization lodged against Uber. The taxi association sought a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday announced in an orders list that it had denied the request.
A denial of certiorari has no precedential value; it simply means that the lower court decision stands. That said, the outcome may deter taxi organizations from other jurisdictions, as well as perhaps other businesses whose market share is threatened by “gig economy” entities, from filing similar antitrust suits. In addition, the Court let stand a decision that properly elevated protection of consumers over assisting competitors, a fundamental antitrust-law concept that is under attack by some politicians, legal activists, and antitrust academics. As the Third Circuit explained:
Appellants urge the application of antitrust laws for the express opposite purpose of antitrust laws: to compensate for their loss of profits due to increased competition from Uber. However, harm to Appellants’ business does not equal harm to competition.