Collateral estoppel doctrine applies in 3M case
Publish date: 23 June 2005
Issue Number: 1362
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Competition
A US District judge in Pennsylvania has found in a class action antitrust suit against office supply giant 3M that several key issues have already been decided by the jury in a prior antitrust trial and that there is no need to relitigate on them.
The Legal Intelligencer reports Judge John Padova found that the doctrine of collateral estoppel applies to the October 1999 verdict in LePage\'s Inc v 3M. In that case, LePage\'s, a competing supplier of tape, won a $68m judgment in an antitrust suit that accused 3M, the maker of Scotch brand tape, of using illegal tactics to drive it out of business. Now Judge Padova has ruled that the plaintiffs in a class action suit on behalf of direct purchasers of 3M transparent tape need not relitigate issues that were decided by the jury in the LePage\'s case. Judge Padova found the jury in the most recent case will still need to decide several additional issues, including the time frame in which the violation took place and whether the plaintiffs can show any antitrust injury. Full report in The Legal Intelligencer
