Court Cases

1) Brown v. Pro Football Inc.- 1995
The NFL Players Association, a labor union, negotiated a plan with the NFL. The NFL proposed a plan that would give the same pay to substitute players: $1000 weekly salary. The union disagreed and players were brought into an antitrust suit. This interested me because I don't normally think of football as a case that'd is necessary to be dealt with in court, especially one that reaches the Supreme Court. This case resulted in an 8 to 1 vote saying several employers are immune from a union anti-trust suit when the employers unilaterally impose terms on the union, as they bargain together.

2) BMW v. Gore- 1995
Ira Gore, Jr. purchased a new vehicle from Alabama's BMW dealership, discovering the new vehicle had been repainted. Gore sued BMW for committing fraud and not informing him the car had been repainted. The Alabama Circuit Court awarded Gore with $4000 for the damages and $2 million in punitive damage. However, Alabama's Supreme Court ruled the punitive damages were "grossly excessive" and violated BMW's Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. Results were 5 to 4 vote for BMW. I found this case interesting because I agreed with the court that the man received a "grossly excessive" of $2 million! The Fourteenth Amendment's due process protected BMW because they were not aware of the severe punishment they'd be facing.

3) AT&T v. Iowa Utilities Board-1998
Throughout history, monopolies have been broken in anti-trust suits to stop one company from dominating and taking over other corporations and small businesses. An example is the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and local exchange carriers (LECs), which regulate competitive business practices. In this case, AT&T challenged their constitutionality, along with other phone service providers. The case resulted in a 7 to 1 vote (1 undecided?) declaring the FCC has the authority to implement competition-inducing guidelines set out in the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This caught my attention because it didn't seem like a typical case, as it involved AT&T. At first I thought it'd be a major case involving a serious suit, but it was not. However, it may still be significant because it affects the economy and other businesses.