Preface

• Pages: xv-xvi

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PREFACE

When manufacturers conspire to fix prices, the injury does not end

with the people who buy directly from the conspirators—or so many

think. In Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois,1 however, the U.S. Supreme Court

decided that these “indirect purchasers”—that is, purchasers who buy

from the alleged conspirators’ customers, rather than from the

conspirators themselves—had no cause of action under federal law.2 In

more than a quarter century since that decision, courts, legislatures,

practitioners, academics, and the American Bar Association itself all

have struggled with the ramifications of this decision. And in California

v. ARC America Corp.,3 the Supreme Court confirmed that the States

could provide a different result under their own laws and permit indirect

purchasers to recover.4

As matters now stand, 27 states (23 by statute and another four by

case law) permit indirect purchaser claims in one form or another. Yet

the jurisprudence for these claims is far from fully developed. This

Handbook seeks to explain both the framework for indirect purchaser

claims and the issues that commonly arise in indirect purchaser litigation.

Dozens of private practitioners and economists contributed to this

project. In addition to the co-editors, Michael A. Lindsay and Ronald W.

Breaux, we wish to give particular thanks to Jacqueline K. Shipchandler

and Christine J. Sommer whose enormous contributions and repeated

reviews were essential to the completion of this project. We also

gratefully acknowledge the work of the following:

Barbara Alexander Ethan Litwin

Joseph Angland Stacey Mahoney

James A. Babst Brian McKay

Benjamin G. Bradshaw Michael G. Nast

Charles B. Casper Michael Osborne

Brian Collins Erik Pritchard

Matthew R. Cosgrove Elisabeth Rain

David Crosby David Reece

Kenneth A. Dekker Gabriela Richeimer

Beth L. Fancsali Christopher Rogers

1. 432 U.S. 720 (1977).

2. Id. at 737, 746-47.

3. 490 U.S. 93 (1989).

4. Id. at 101-02.