NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court has rejected an antitrust lawsuit brought against publishers by what was once one of the country’s largest wholesale magazine distributors.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in an opinion published on Monday with a lower-court judge in rejecting Anderson News LLC’s claims.
The Knoxville, Tennessee company argued publishers controlling 80 percent of the nation’s magazines conspired to drive it out of business. Anderson shut down in February 2009, laying off thousands of employees.
The appeals court said evidence presented by Anderson was “perhaps consistent with an unlawful conspiracy among defendants.” It cited the company’s decision to impose a “take-it-or-leave-it” surcharge on the industry as another plausible explanation for its demise.
Anderson lawyers were studying the opinion and deciding on their next steps.
