Volvo Trucks North America Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC Inc., No. 04-905 (U.S. Jan. 10, 2006)
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 7-2 that Volvo Trucks North America Inc., a manufacturer of heavy trucks and buses, did not violate the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), an anti-trust law, by providing one dealership with price discounts and concessions for its products not offered to another dealer, where those dealers were not in competition for the same customers. Justice Ginsburg, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, and Breyer, delivered the Court's opinion. Justice Stevens, joined by Justice Thomas, filed a dissent. Although the issue in the case does not directly affect school districts, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) filed a friend of the court brief asking the Court to overturn the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that Volvo violated RPA by giving discounts and concessions to a dealership seeking to secure a bid from a retail customer. NASDPTS warned that prohibiting the offering of such discounts to dealers would hamper school districts' efforts to secure the best possible prices for school buses by discouraging school bus manufacturers from giving discounts to help their dealers win competitions for sales to districts. Referring to the alleged violation as "secondary-line price discrimination," the Supreme Court pointed out that RPA would only apply in cases where there was evidence that the "manufacturer discriminated between dealers competing to resell its product to the same retail customer." The evidence did not support the type of unlawful discrimination alleged by the aggrieved dealership, the Court determined, because on the two occasions where there was head-to-head competition, there was no evidence demonstrating that "it was
disfavored vis-à-vis other Volvo dealers." U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Thomas G. Hungar, arguing on behalf of the federal government in support of Volvo, insisted RPA has never applied to dealership arrangements typical for heavy truck and school bus sales.
Volvo Trucks North America Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC Inc., No. 04-905 (U.S. Jan. 10, 2006)
[Link to full opinion]Education WeekBy Andrew Trotter
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Editor's Note: For background on the Eighth Circuit's opinion and the oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, see below.]
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