Supreme Court Finds for Verizon in Antitrust Case
Tue January 13, 2004 04:51 PM ET
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Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust law professor at the University of Iowa, said the ruling reinforces the federal courts' long skepticism about claims that dominant companies should be forced to deal with competitors.
"By and large, the courts have narrowed the scope of refusal-to-deal claims," Hovenkamp said.
The case before the high court stemmed from a lawsuit that a New York law firm filed against Bell Atlantic, which later merged with GTE Corp. to form Verizon.
The law office of Curtis V. Trinko LLP argued it had suffered damage because of Bell Atlantic's failure to provide satisfactory wholesale service to its provider, AT&T Corp. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research)
Verizon's Thorne said Tuesday's ruling will defuse dozens of similar antitrust lawsuits filed against Verizon by class- action attorneys, as well as a handful of suits brought by competing phone companies.
But Covad Communications (COVD.OB: Quote, Profile, Research) said it would press on with its lawsuit in federal court alleging that Verizon tried to monopolize the market for a type of high-speed Internet service, known as DSL service.
"We think the court's decision is very narrow and does not affect our lawsuit," said Covad general counsel James Kirkland.
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