Garth Drabinsky v. Actors' Equity Association

The “statutory labor exemption” to federal antitrust laws immunizes from liability labor organizations that are “lawfully carrying out the[ir] legitimate object[ives].” 15 U.S.C. § 17; see also 29 U.S.C. § 52. But the statutory labor exemption applies only “so long as a union acts in its self-interest.” United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U.S. 219, 229–33 (1941). And it is not enough for a union to merely act in its self-interest; it must, instead, act in its “legitimate interests.” H.A. Artists & Assocs., Inc. v. Actors’ Equity Ass’n, 451 U.S. 704 (1981). The question presented here is: • Does the statutory labor exemption— which requires that unions act pursuant to a legitimate self-interest—provide unions with blanket immunity from the antitrust laws such that they can avoid a factual inquiry into their actions, and thereby deprive the plaintiff of both due process and his livelihood in perpetuity, through a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, when the justification given by the union for its conduct was pled to be false?