COBB THEATRES III, LLC and COBB THEATRES IV, LLC, Plaintiffs, v. AMC ENTERTAINMENT HOLDINGS, INC.; AMC ENTERTAINMENT, INC.; and AMERICAN MULTI-CINEMA, INC., Defendants., 101 F. Supp. 3d 1319

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-In an antitrust action, a small movie theater company sufficiently alleged that a large theater chain forced movie distributors to enter into exclusive dealing agreements by threatening that the refusal to grant clearances in the area would result in adverse economic consequences, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 1; [2]-It alleged sufficient facts that the chain's anticompetitive conduct substantially diminished the quality of a good offered to the public thereby causing actual harm to competition; [3]-Its allegations were sufficient to show the chain threatened nearby landlords to create high barriers to entry; [4]-Its allegations were sufficient to suggest the existence of an unlawful circuit dealing arrangement amounting to monopoly leveraging.