In Re Airport Car Rental Antitrust Litigation. Budget Rent-A-Car of Washington-Oregon, Inc. v. The Hertz Corp. And National Car Rental System, Inc.

This appeal requires us to decide whether the so-called Noerr-Pennington exemption from the antitrust laws protects concerted efforts to lobby public officials who operate state-owned airports. We, as did the district court, conclude that it does.

I. Facts

A number of relatively small car-rental companies sued The Hertz Corp., Avis Rent A Car Systems, Inc., and National Car Rental Systems, Inc., on the ground that these industry giants had engaged in a nationwide conspiracy to monopolize the lucrative on-airport car-rental market. The lawsuits were consolidated into a single multidistrict litigation. This appeal concerns only the entry of summary judgment against one plaintiff who alleges misconduct at three airports located in the Pacific Northwest. See In re Airport Car Rental Antitrust Litigation, 521 F.Supp. 568 (N.D.Cal.1981).

Budget Rent-A-Car of Washington-Oregon, Inc., claims that Hertz and National lobbied officials at the Seattle-Taeoma, Portland and Spokane International Airports to lease space only to car-rental companies that satisfied a number of very restrictive requirements. The major one compelled the company to pay the airports a rental fee equal to that paid…