Savage v. Waste Management, Inc.

• Decision Date: 19 December 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2:82-3263-1.
• Citation: 623 F. Supp. 1505
• Parties: Margaret F. SAVAGE and Independent Haulers, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC.; Waste Management of South Carolina, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina

623 F. Supp. 1505

Margaret F. SAVAGE and Independent Haulers, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC.; Waste Management of South Carolina, Inc., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 2:82-3263-1.

United States District Court, D. South Carolina, Charleston Division.

December 19, 1985.

James H. Moss, Beaufort, S.C., and Harry A. Swagart, III, Columbia, S.C., for plaintiffs.

Edward L. Michael, Joseph V. Giffin, and John E. Noel, Chicago, Ill., and Joab M. Dowling, Jr., Beaufort, S.C., for defendants.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT

HAWKINS, District Judge.

This action is before the court on motion of defendants Waste Management, Inc. (hereinafter WMI) and Waste Management of South Carolina, Inc. (hereinafter WMSC) for summary judgment as to plaintiffs' second amended complaint, on defendant WMSC's motion for summary judgment on its counterclaim and on the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment as to Count VII of their second amended complaint and motion for partial summary judgment, including a cross-motion for summary judgment as to WMSC's counterclaim. The issue presented in the motions, except those regarding the counterclaim, is whether the allegedly anticompetitive acts attributed to the defendants are shielded from federal antitrust liability by the "state action" doctrine first enunciated by the Supreme Court in Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341, 63 S.Ct. 307, 87 L.Ed. 315 (1943).

The plaintiffs allege that Beaufort County, Beaufort County Council, Waste Management of South Carolina, Inc. and Waste Management, Inc. violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2, by entering into and performing under contracts for the exclusive collection and disposal of garbage in certain areas of the county.¹ Second Amended Complaint (filed June 29, 1985). In addition, the plaintiffs allege that these actions violated a Beaufort County ordinance and South Carolina antitrust laws.

Oral arguments on these motions were heard on October 3, 1985, at which time the motions were taken under advisement. The court has now reviewed those arguments, the motions and briefs of counsel, and makes the following rulings.

I. THE SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

In order to obtain summary judgment, a party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. In First National Bank v. Cities Services Co., 391 U.S. 253, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968), the Supreme Court made it clear that summary judgment is an important tool in antitrust litigation. The Court stated that "a party cannot rest on the allegations contained in his complaint in opposition to a properly supported summary judgment motion made against him" (391 U.S. at 289, 88 S.Ct. at 1592) and that:

While we recognize the importance of preserving litigants' rights to a trial on their claims, we are not prepared to extend those rights to the point of requiring that anyone who files an antitrust complaint setting forth a valid cause of action be entitled to a full-dress trial notwithstanding the absence of any significant probative evidence tending to support the complaint.

391 U.S. at 290, 88 S.Ct. at 1593. See also, Ottensmeyer v. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland, 756 F.2d 986 (4th Cir.1985) (summary judgment against plaintiff affirmed in Sherman § 1 case); Stearns v. Genrad, Inc., 752 F.2d 942 (4th Cir.1985) (summary judgment against plaintiff affirmed on claim of attempted monopolization); Universal Lite Distributors, Inc. v. Northwest Industries, Inc., 602 F.2d 1173 (4th Cir.1979) (summary judgment against plaintiff affirmed on Sherman § 1 claim); Kendall Elevator Co., Inc. v. LBC & W Associates of South Carolina, Inc., 350 F.Supp. 75 (D.S.C.1972) (summary judgment granted in favor of defendant on Sherman § 1 claim).

This court is aware that Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 368 U.S. 464, 82 S.Ct. 486, 7 L.Ed.2d 458 (1962), decided before the Supreme Court's decision in Cities Service, supra, is frequently cited for the proposition that summary judgment is to be granted sparingly in antitrust cases. E.g., see this court's opinion in Trident Neuro-Imaging Laboratory v. Blue Cross, 568 F.Supp. 1474, 1478-79 (D.S.C.1983). However, Poller is plainly not a bar to granting summary judgment in antitrust cases as is made clear by the Fourth Circuit cases cited in the above text and by numerous decisions from other circuits. See also, Trident Neuro-Imaging Laboratory v. Blue Cross, 1983-2 Trade Cases (CCH) ¶ 65,674 (D.S.C.1982), where this court granted summary judgment in an antitrust case. Moreover, the statements in the Poller case are of questionable validity in light of the Supreme Court's subsequent decision in the Cities Service case, see Legal Times, Vol. V, No. 36 (Feb. 14, 1983). Indeed, some courts have held that "the very nature of antitrust litigation would encourage summary disposition of such cases where permissible ... antitrust trials often encompass a great deal of expensive and time consuming discovery and trial work ... and the statutory private antitrust remedy affords a special temptation for institution of vexatious litigation...." Lupia v. Stella D'Oro Biscuit Co., Inc., 586 F.2d 1163, 1167 (7th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 982, 99 S.Ct. 1791, 60 L.Ed.2d 242 (1979) (emphasis added).

Summary judgment is particularly appropriate when, as here, all discovery on the key issues has been completed. In this posture, a motion for summary judgment is more like a motion for directed verdict since all of the evidence of the parties on the key issues is before the court. In Sun Valley Disposal Co., Inc. v. Silver State Disposal Co., 1970 Trade Cases (CCH), ¶ 73,028 (D.Nev.1968), aff'd, 420 F.2d 341 (9th Cir.1969), for example, the court noted that, as in this case, discovery had been completed and all of the plaintiff's "cards were on the table." In granting summary judgment for defendants on plaintiff's complaint (including claims of antitrust conspiracy in the granting of an exclusive refuse collection franchise), the court explained that

the "Golden Fleece" of treble damages plus attorneys' fees and costs has led the diligent, aggressive lawyer to adopt the language of monopoly and restraint of trade to all varieties of normal, standard and customary business transactions. While such expertise in legal composition may withstand a motion to dismiss, it does not require or justify judicial submission to the descriptive language of the pleadings when the facts are laid bare.

1970 Trade Cases (CCH) at ¶ 88,030. See also, Universal Lite Distributors, Inc. v. Northwest Industries, Inc., 452 F.Supp. 1206, 1210 (D.Md.1978), aff'd in part, 602 F.2d 1173 (4th Cir.1979) (granting summary judgment on plaintiff's complaint, including antitrust conspiracy claim, after three years of extensive discovery had been completed); Ralph C. Wilson Industries v. American Broadcasting Companies, 598 F.Supp. 694, 700 (N.D.Cal.1984) (given extensive discovery and fully developed record, the court treated motion for summary judgment as motion for directed verdict with assumption that all evidence available to plaintiff would be admitted at trial, and granted summary judgment in defendants' favor); Humboldt Bay Municipal Water v. Louisiana — Pacific Corp., 608 F.Supp. 562 (N.D.Cal.1985) (granting summary judgment in defendants' favor on basis of fully developed record after extensive discovery).

When tested by these principles, the undisputed facts clearly show that WMSC and WMI are entitled, as a matter of law, to judgment in their favor on plaintiffs' complaint.

II. COUNTY IMMUNITY²

The Supreme Court has recently reiterated that a municipality is immune from antitrust liability when "engaging in the challenged activity pursuant to a clearly expressed state policy." Town of Hallie v. City of Eau Claire, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S.Ct. 1713, 1717, 85 L.Ed.2d 24 (1985). This requirement is satisfied when the conduct at issue is a "foreseeable result" of regulatory activity authorized by the state. Id. 105 S.Ct. at 1718.

The Court noted that "it is not necessary ... for the state legislature to have stated explicitly that it expected the City to engage in conduct that would have anticompetitive effects." Id. at 1718. It is only necessary that "the State as sovereign clearly intends to displace competition in a particular field with a regulatory structure." Southern Motor Carriers Rate Conference v. U.S., ___ U.S. ___, 105 S.Ct. 1721, 1731, 85 L.Ed.2d 36 (1985). Furthermore, the Court held that a city need not demonstrate that the state compelled or actively supervised its allegedly anticompetitive conduct. Town of Hallie v. City of Eau Claire, 105 S.Ct. at 1715, 1720.

In this case, Beaufort County claims to have acted pursuant to South Carolina Code Ann. § 44-55-1010 (1976) et seq. See Memorandum in Support of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment at 49-52 (filed June 27, 1985). These statutes provide that a county "may regulate the collection and disposal of garbage in accordance with the provisions of this article." S.C. CODE ANN. § 44-55-1010. "Collection or disposal of garbage without a license from the county is unlawful." S.C.CODE ANN. § 44-55-1030. Most importantly, the county "may call for bids for the right to collect and dispose of garbage or may issue to one or more persons on such terms as it shall fix the right or franchise to collect and dispose of garbage not inconsistent with the provisions of this article." S.C. CODE ANN. § 44-55-1040 (emphasis added). Finally, the County Health Department is to exercise supervision over the manner of collection and disposal of garbage. S.C.CODE ANN. § 44-55-1050.

It is clear that the policy underlying these statutes is to give counties the choice of whether or not to regulate the collection and disposal of garbage under the provisions of this article. S.C.CODE ANN. § 44-55-1010 et seq. The...