Gary J. Dunn, Individually and as Guardian of Steven Dunn, a Minor Child and G. Michael Dunn v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.

This is an antitrust suit brought by newspaper home-delivery carriers against the publisher of two newspapers. The carriers complained that the newspapers violated the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 , and parallel state law, Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 44-1402, by directly signing up home subscribers and engaging in other conduct setting the price that home subscribers paid to the carriers. The district court rejected the carriers’ per se violation analysis and, after bench trial, filed detailed findings of fact, and decided for the newspapers under the “rule of reason.” The carriers appeal, and we affirm.

I. FACTS.

Plaintiffs Gary J. Dunn, his minor son Steven Dunn, and G. Michael Dunn were carriers for the Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette, daily newspapers published by defendant Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. The carriers were independent contractors, not employees of the newspapers. The newspapers did not grant the carriers monopolies or exclusive geographical sales rights. The newspapers set the prices at which they sold papers to the carriers.

The newspapers engaged in various practices that, the carriers say, tended to set the price that home-delivery subscribers would pay the…