Letting the Cat Out of the Box: Noerr-Pennington Immunity and Consent Decrees

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Thomas Dillickrath, William Lavery, Jan 14, 2014

For over two decades, courts have considered the applicability of the Noerr-Pennington doctrine to immunize an antitrust defendant from liability where the defendant engages in protected First Amendment petitioning activity, including petitioning before a court. Despite this long history, Noerr-Pennington immunity remains a controversial and somewhat untested area of law, often sub