Monopoly Power

Syufy Enterprises adv. the Federal Government

Syufy Enterprises, a California-based owner and operator of a chain of Las Vegas, Nevada movie theatres, hired Blecher & Collins to defend them in Federal court in San Francisco. They had been charged in a civil antitrust case by the Department of Justice with violations of anti-merger and monopoly laws, after acquiring all the first-run motion picture theatres in Las Vegas. The Government's goal was to force Syufy to give up the theatres it had purchased from former competitors. Blecher & Collins went on to demonstrate that Syufy's acquisitions didn't short circuit the play of natural market forces, and that Syufy did not have the power to exclude competition or determine prices. After trial, the Court decided in favor of Syufy Enterprises, and was affirmed on appeal in a frequently cited legal opinion.