5 Factors Courts Consider in Analyzing Existence of Antitrust Standing

In Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. v. California State Council of Carpenters, the Court articulated five factors that courts should consider in analyzing the existence of antitrust standing. 459 U.S. 519, 545 (1983). The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has summarized them as follows: (1) the causal connection between the antitrust violation and the harm to the plaintiff and the intent by the defendant to cause harm, with neither factor alone conferring standing; (2) whether the plaintiff's alleged injury is of the type for which the antitrust laws were intended to provide redress; (3) the directness of the injury, which addresses the concerns that liberal application of standing principles might produce speculative claims; (4) the existence of more direct victims of the alleged antitrust violations; and (5) the potential for duplicative recovery or complex apportionment of damages. In re Lower Lake Erie Iron Ore Antitrust Litig., 998 F.2d 1144, 1163 n.9 (3d Cir. 1993).