Barstow Community College Sherman Act American Crystal Sugar Co Discussion

Anderson’s Business Law and the Legal Environment, Comprehensive Volume (virdocs.com)

1.) Please select one of the Ethics & The Law scenarios from Chapters 5-10 and complete the assignment.

chapter 5 question 1,

“American Crystal Sugar Co. was one of several refinersof beet sugar in northern California, and it distributedits product in interstate commerce. American Crystaland the other refiners had a monopoly on the seedsupply and were the only practical market for thebeets. In 1939, all of the refiners began using identicalform contracts that computed the price paid to thesugar beet growers using a“factor”common to all therefiners. As a result, all refiners paid the same price forbeets of the same quality. Though there was no hardevidence of an illegal agreement, the growers broughtsuit under the Sherman Act against the refiners,alleging that they conspired to fix a single uniformprice among themselves to hold down the cost of thebeets. The growers sued for the treble damages avail-able under the Sherman Act. Can they recover?[Mandeville Island Farms v. American Crystal SugarCo., 334 U.S. 219]”