Private Damage Actions Under the Robinson-Patman Act

Abstract

Over the past four decades, there has been virtually no public enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act. Neither the Department of Justice nor the Federal Trade Commission has pursued cases involving price discrimination. Consequently, private enforcement is all that is left. But private enforcement is fraught with difficulties. In this article, we examine the difficulties that private plaintiffs face in pursuing damages flowing from unlawful price discrimination. We trace these difficulties to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Brooke Group and J. Truett Payne.