Freed from the Lobster Cage: DOJ Terminates 1958 Final Judgment against Maine Lobstermen's Association | Practical Law

Freed from the Lobster Cage: DOJ Terminates 1958 Final Judgment against Maine Lobstermen's Association | Practical Law

The DOJ agreed to terminate a 1958 final judgment against the Maine Lobstermen's Association prohibiting price-fixing for live Maine lobsters.

Freed from the Lobster Cage: DOJ Terminates 1958 Final Judgment against Maine Lobstermen's Association

by Practical Law Antitrust
Published on 06 Aug 2014 • USA (National/Federal)
The DOJ agreed to terminate a 1958 final judgment against the Maine Lobstermen's Association prohibiting price-fixing for live Maine lobsters.
On June 25, 2014, the Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to terminate a 1958 final judgment entered against the Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) enjoining a conspiracy to fix prices for live Maine lobsters. The final judgment perpetually prohibited the MLA from entering into or maintaining any agreement to:
  • Fix or influence prices for Maine lobsters.
  • Reduce or limit the catch and supply of Maine lobsters.
Finding that the final judgment was no longer needed to protect competition, the DOJ cited many developments in the past 50 years that led them to terminate it, including that:
  • The present MLA has evolved to have no involvement in the harvest, sale or distribution of lobster, as federal and state laws now regulate those aspects of the industry. Instead, the MLA is now a trade organization focusing on lobster sustainability, and the final judgment's provisions may impede the MLA's legitimate advocacy efforts relating to lobster sustainability and harvest regulations.
  • The Sherman Act today is much broader than it was in 1958. Because the current Sherman Act prohibits price fixing as a per se antitrust violation, it renders the 1958 final judgment unnecessary.
  • Perpetual decrees are not in the public interest. In 1979, the DOJ changed its consent decree policy to limit behavior prohibitions to a specified number of years (usually ten years). The DOJ is in the process of terminating or revising any decrees entered before 1979 that involve perpetual prohibitions.
This year, the DOJ updated its process for terminating or modifying certain perpetual, or legacy, decrees (those entered before 1979). Instead of conducting a costly full investigation into each legacy decree as did previously, the DOJ will now presume the age of the decree to be a sufficient factual basis to support termination for the majority of legacy decrees.
This is the third time this year that the antitrust agencies have approved petitions to reopen and modify final orders. The MLA decision further demonstrates that the DOJ and FTC continue to take into account market changes when enforcing the antitrust laws.
For more information on the other two petitions modified in 2014, see Legal Update, Play it Again, Sam: DOJ to Review 1941 ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees and Legal Update, FTC to Reopen and Modify 1998 Final Order in In the Matter of Toys "R" Us.