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COMES v. MICROSOFT CORP.6/12/2002
pursue an action for violation of the Iowa Competition Law it has stated a claim upon which relief may be granted. We conclude the motion to dismiss should not have been granted and reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
All justices concur except CARTER and CADY, JJ., who dissent.
Contrary to the opinion of the court, I believe that the reasons advanced by the Court in the Illinois Brick Co. case, 431 U.S. at 745-46, 97 S.Ct. at 2074-75, 52 L.Ed.2d at 775, for precluding recovery by indirect purchasers under federal antitrust law, are persuasive and apply with equal force to the issue of such recovery under state antitrust laws. I would affirm the judgment of the district court.
I respectfully dissent.
The majority articulates many policies that support permitting an indirect purchaser to sue under the Iowa Competition Law, and has identified a few other states that permit an indirect purchaser to sue. Nevertheless, this case is not about which policy is better or trends in other states. If it were, the majority would have to acknowledge that the authority for indirect purchasers to sue in other states has typically been traced to specific legislative enactments in those states or a statutory scheme that does not include a rule of construction requiring state law to follow federal court interpretations of the federal antitrust statutes. See Vacco, ___ A.2d at ___ n. 20. Instead, I believe this case solely involves the interpretation of our Iowa statute, and the majority has failed to interpret the statute according to the directive of our legislature.
We do not determine the policy of our law, nor establish trends for our legislature. We only seek to interpret statutes consistent with the intent of our legislature.
The key to the resolution of the issue in this case rests on the interpretation of section 553.12 of the Iowa Competition Law. This law generally prohibits restraint of trade or the use of a monopoly to exclude competition or influence prices in the market, subject to certain exemptions. Iowa Code §§ 553.4-.6. The law also gives criminal and civil enforcement powers to the attorney general of this state, including the power to investigate. Id. §§ 553.7, .9. Additionally, the law authorizes the state, or "a person who is injured" by the prohibitive competition, to bring an action to, inter alia, recover actual damages. Id. § 553.12(2). The question in this case is whether our legislature intended this language to include a person who can only claim an indirect injury .
On its face, this question has no easy resolution. The cause of action created under the statute extends to "a person who is injured." Yet, our legislature did not further define "a person who is injured" by the conduct prohibited under the law.
The majority concludes the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous on its face, and creates a cause of action for all consumers, without any restrictions on the class or type of consumer. It then minimizes and ultimately rejects the specific rule of construction our legislature provided for us in section 553.2 to resolve disputes over the meaning of the competition law. Finally, it reviews the various policy considerations underlying the issue whether to allow lawsuits by indirect purchasers, and adopts the policies that favor antitrust actions by indirect purchasers. In my mind, the majority has utilized faulty reasoning, and abandoned its judicial role. Under the fundamental doctrine of separation of powers, we are obligated to construe statutes to carry out the will of the legislative branch. 2A Norman J. Singer, S
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