Jim Cain v. Air Cargo, Inc.

Plaintiffs appeal from summary judgment in favor of defendants Air Cargo, Inc. (“ACI”), and City Freight Lines (“City Freight”) in an antitrust action with pendent claims under California state law and the Fourteenth Amendment. We affirm the summary judgment disposing of the pendent claims, but reverse and reinstate the claims under the Sherman and Clayton Acts, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.

Plaintiffs are independent truckers operating in the Los Angeles area, exempt from interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) regulation under 49 U.S.C. § 303 (b)(8) as commercial-zone haulers. Defendant ACI is a corporation organized in 1947 by an agreement among 17 national air carriers, who established ACI as their agent to provide ground freight service to and from airports they serve incident to air freight carriage. The agreement empowered ACI to provide the cartage service itself, or to contract with local haulers for the service.

Under Section 412 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 ( 49 U.S.C. § 1382 ), the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) approved the 1947 agreement establishing ACI (CAB Agreement No. 1041). Rather than provide the service itself, ACI has usually chosen to contract with a single…