United States Fourth Circuit

In a class action brought by purchasers of cotton and poly-cotton yarn against various North Carolina manufacturers of the yarns, alleging that the manufacturers had engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy in violation of the Sherman Act, a ruling finding that none of the plaintiffs was required to submit its antitrust claims to arbitration is vacated and remanded as: 1) all contracts at issue in the appeal included a binding arbitration provision; and 2) plaintiffs failed to establish that the terms of the arbitration provisions prevent them from effectively vindicating their statutory rights.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/12/2007
• Published 10/12/2007

Judges

• Before WILLIAMS, Chief Judge, TRAXLER, Circuit Judge, and THOMAS E. JOHNSTON, United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Shari Ross Lahlou, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, D.C.;  Jeffrey S. Cashdan, King & Spalding, L.L.P., Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellants.  Larry Stephen McDevitt, Van Winkle, Buck, Wall, Starnes & Davis, P.A., Asheville, North Carolina;  Steven A. Asher, Weinstein, Kitchenoff & Asher, L.L.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  Jonathan A. Berkelhammer, Jonathan P. Heyl, Smith Moore, L.L.P., Greensboro, North Carolina;  John S. Darden, King & Spalding, L.L.P., Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellants Avondale Incorporated and Avondale Mills, Incorporated;  James T. Williams, Jr., Jennifer K. Van Zant, Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Greensboro, North Carolina;  Kent A. Gardiner, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellant Frontier Spinning Mills, Incorporated.  Anthony J. Bolognese, Michael E. Gehring, Bolognese & Associates, L.L.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;  Joseph C. Kohn, Steven M. Steingard, Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;  Mindee J. Reuben, Weinstein, Kitchenoff & Asher, L.L.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;  Steven A. Kanner, William H. London, Melinda J. Morales, Much, Shelist, Freed, Denenberg, Ament & Rubenstein, P.C., Chicago, Illinois;  Robert C. Cone, Tuggle, Duggins & Meschan, P.A., Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellees.