Norton Rose Fulbright helps AMC Theatres to antitrust win before Texas Supreme Court

Norton Rose Fulbright's Michael Swartzendruber (Dallas) and his team successfully represented AMC Theatres (AMC) in a longstanding antitrust litigation against iPic Theatres (iPic), culminating with a unanimous decision by the Texas Supreme Court in favor of firm client AMC.

The dispute began when iPic alleged that AMC conspired with Regal Cinemas (Regal) to block iPic from entering the Dallas and Houston markets. The trial court initially issued a preliminary injunction barring Regal from certain exclusive film licensing practices regarding iPic's theatre in Houston, but Swartzendruber and the team secured the trial court's complete denial of similar injunctive relief requested against AMC. Later, just three weeks before trial was to begin, AMC obtained dismissal of iPic's claims on summary judgment.

iPic appealed the trial court's judgment on its antitrust conspiracy claim, and the court of appeals reversed, finding fact issues precluding summary judgment. AMC filed a petition for discretionary review of that decision by the Texas Supreme Court, which granted AMC's petition, and Swartzendruber presented oral argument to the Court in September 2021.

The Supreme Court addressed important questions of Texas law regarding what types of evidence can suffice to support a legally viable inference of an antitrust conspiracy-and on January 14, 2022, the Court ruled in AMC's favor in a detailed 8-0 decision, finding no competent evidence to prove an antitrust conspiracy involving AMC.

In addition to its clear importance in vindicating AMC, the Court's opinion is significant for businesses operating in Texas generally, as it clarifies that Texas antitrust law, like federal law, will not permit evidence of parallel competitive conduct coupled with mere suspicion and conspiracy labels to support a claim of antitrust conspiracy in the state-a principle that is foundational to protecting vigorous, lawful competition in Texas and elsewhere. In addition to Swartzendruber, the AMC defense team from Norton Rose Fulbright included Beau Cox, Darryl Anderson, Geraldine Young, appellate specialist Warren Huang, and Layne Kruse.