Rosemary D'Augusta, et al. v. American Petroleum Institute, et al.

This is a private antitrust suit brought under Sections 4 and 16 of the Clayton Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 15, 26) for violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2), and for violation of the Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. § 18). The questions presented are: Whether, contrary to this Court’s seminal decision in United States v. Socony Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150 (1940), the Court below erred in ignoring the Socony case and affirming the District Court’s Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal notwithstanding the “plausibility” of the allegations that the Respondent American oil companies, without Congressional sanction, accepted the invitation by the Russian and Saudi Arabian oil companies in April 2020 to reduce production and increase the price of oil as a “quid pro quo” condition to stop the price war between the oil companies of Russia and Saudi Arabia in per se violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Whether, contrary to this Court’s seminal decisions in Socony, supra, and Interstate Circuit Inc v. United States, 306 U.S. 208 (1939), the Court below erred by affirming the District Court’s Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal and Petitioners’ motion to set aside the dismissal of Petitioners’ suit charging that the Respondent American oil companies, without Congressional sanction, accepted the invitation of the oil companies of Saudi Arabia and Russia to