Filed: May 22, 2017
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAY 22 2017 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS BONA FIDE CONGLOMERATE, INC., No. 15-55999 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 3:14-cv-00751-GPC-DHB v. SOURCEAMERICA; et al., MEMORANDUM* Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Gonzalo P. Curiel, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted May 12, 2017 Pasadena, California Before: CHRISTEN and WATF
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAY 22 2017 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS BONA FIDE CONGLOMERATE, INC., No. 15-55999 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 3:14-cv-00751-GPC-DHB v. SOURCEAMERICA; et al., MEMORANDUM* Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Gonzalo P. Curiel, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted May 12, 2017 Pasadena, California Before: CHRISTEN and WATFO..
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MAY 22 2017
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
BONA FIDE CONGLOMERATE, INC., No. 15-55999
Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No.
3:14-cv-00751-GPC-DHB
v.
SOURCEAMERICA; et al., MEMORANDUM*
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Gonzalo P. Curiel, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted May 12, 2017
Pasadena, California
Before: CHRISTEN and WATFORD, Circuit Judges, and SOTO,** District Judge.
1. The district court properly dismissed Bona Fide Conglomerate, Inc.’s
claims under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. To withstand a motion
to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Bona Fide’s complaint
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
** The Honorable James Alan Soto, United States District Judge for the
District of Arizona, sitting by designation.
Page 2 of 4
had to answer “basic questions” such as “who, did what, to whom (or with whom),
where, and when?” Kendall v. VISA U.S.A., Inc.,
518 F.3d 1042, 1048 (9th Cir.
2008). Considering the complaint’s allegations as a whole, Bona Fide failed to
allege sufficient facts to answer those questions. Dismissal of Bona Fide’s Section
1 claims was therefore warranted.
For example, the allegations attributed to Jean Robinson, the former general
counsel of SourceAmerica, fail to support the existence of a Section 1 conspiracy.
Robinson alleged that the defendants are members of a “club” or “mafia” that
controls the allocation of contracts under the AbilityOne Program and that several
of the defendants’ executives are involved in the collusive activity. These
allegations fail to explain where and when the alleged collusive activity among the
defendants occurred, as needed to make out a plausible Section 1 claim. See
id.
Robinson’s allegations identifying specific agreements between certain
defendants fare no better. For example, Robinson alleged that one of the
defendants, PRIDE, did not protest SourceAmerica’s allocation of a contract to
another defendant, ServiceSource, because PRIDE knew that SourceAmerica
would award it a more lucrative contract in the future. These allegations fail to
explain where and when any such agreement was consummated, which again
would be needed to make out a plausible Section 1 claim. See
id.
Page 3 of 4
Bona Fide’s other allegations of a Section 1 conspiracy fail to meet the
Kendall standard as well. For example, Bona Fide alleges that the defendants’
employees have served as members of SourceAmerica’s board and on the
Executive Committee of the National Council of SourceAmerica Employers. Bona
Fide further alleges that those employees controlled SourceAmerica’s allocation
process. But Bona Fide does not allege that the defendants ever comprised a
majority of the membership of the SourceAmerica board or the NCSE Executive
Committee, which would be necessary to establish that the defendants controlled
SourceAmerica’s allocation of AbilityOne Program contracts. Bona Fide also
alleges that SourceAmerica and Corporate Source agreed that SourceAmerica
would allocate all of its contracts in the Caribbean to Corporate Source. These
allegations are deficient because they fail to specify who was involved in reaching
that arrangement or when the arrangement was reached. See
id.
Bona Fide’s references to “plus factors” fail to save its Section 1 claims
from dismissal. “Plus factors” are relevant only if the complaint adequately alleges
parallel conduct among the defendants. See In re Musical Instruments and
Equipment Antitrust Litigation,
798 F.3d 1186, 1193–94 (9th Cir. 2015). Bona
Fide has not plausibly alleged any parallel conduct among the defendants. Bona
Page 4 of 4
Fide’s “plus factors” are therefore irrelevant to determining whether the complaint
made out a viable Section 1 claim.
Id.
2. The district court did not err by denying Job Options, Inc.’s and
Opportunity Village, Inc.’s motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 12(b)(1). Bona Fide alleges that Job Options is a participant in an
ongoing Section 1 conspiracy under which it will receive future AbilityOne
Program contracts to Bona Fide’s detriment. These allegations are sufficient to
satisfy Article III standing. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife,
504 U.S. 555,
560–61 (1992). Contrary to Opportunity Village’s argument, Bona Fide’s claims
are not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Court of Federal
Claims under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1). Bona Fide’s claims are not
founded “upon any express or implied contract with the United States.”
Id. Nor
did Bona Fide name the United States as a party to this case. See United States v.
Sherwood,
312 U.S. 584, 588 (1941).
AFFIRMED.
Bona Fide’s motion for judicial notice is DENIED.