Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp.

Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 27, 1985 Decided June 19, 1985
Full case name	Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp.
Citations	472 U.S. 585 (more) 105 S. Ct. 2847; 86 L. Ed. 2d 467; 1985 U.S. LEXIS 115; 53 U.S.L.W. 4818; 1985-2 Trade Cas. (CCH) P66,653
Holding
The Court held that the evidence supported the jury verdict that Aspen Skiing violated § 2 of the Sherman Act and affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell, Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority	Stevens, joined by Burger, Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor
White took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
Sherman Antitrust Act

Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp., 472 U.S. 585 (1985), was a United States Supreme Court case notable as "the very last gasp"^[1] of the Harvard School of antitrust.

Facts

Throughout his ownership, Aspen Highlands and founder Whip Jones remained at odds with the local rival Aspen Skiing Company, which owned and operated the three other ski areas Aspen Mountain (Ajax), Buttermilk and Snowmass in Aspen, with Jones owning the remaining independent ski area, Aspen Highlands. In 1979, Jones sued the Aspen Skiing Company, alleging violations of the Sherman Act. Aspen Highlands and Aspen Skiing had, for several years, cooperated to sell an "all-Aspen" ticket that allowed a skier to visit Aspen Skiing's three mountains and Aspen Highlands. However, the rival companies were unable to agree on a means to administer this program and distribute proceeds. In 1978, Aspen Skiing decided to discontinue the all-Aspen ticket, and to instead sell only the ticket to the three Aspen Skiing mountains. Aspen Skiing also refused to sell Aspen Highlands any lift tickets to the Aspen Skiing mountains (even at full price), thereby preventing Aspen Highlands from offering its own multi-mountain package.

Judgment

The issue made it to the US Supreme Court and was decided as 472 U.S. 585 (1985) with Jones winning over $10 million in treble damages.

See also

Associated Press v. United States

Notes

1. https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=31+Harv.+J.L.+%26+Pub.+Pol%27y+439&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=34edb1ff841340a19fbe2002cd60c80a