Citations 457 U.S. 332 (more) | End date 1982 | |
Full case name Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society Prior history Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Majority Stevens, joined by Brennan, White, Marshall Dissent Powell, joined by Burger, Rehnquist People also search for Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar | ||
Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society, 457 U.S. 332 (1982), is a case by the United States Supreme Court involving antitrust law.
Contents
Facts
Maricopa County Medical Society, by agreement of their member doctors, established the maximum fees the doctors may claim in full payment for health services provided to policyholders of specified insurance plans. Arizona filed a complaint against MCMS in Federal District Court, alleging that they were engaged in an illegal price-fixing conspiracy in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Judgment
In a 4–3 decision, the court held that the maximum fee agreements, as price-fixing agreements, are per se unlawful under § 1 of the Sherman Act.
Significance
In Maricopa, the Burger court deviated from the antitrust methodology based on the writings of Chicago School scholars Robert Bork and Richard Posner. In doing so, the court made "antitrust analysis once again confused and haphazard".