Internet Exercise

The City of Joy, a large metropolis, uses a few private physicians to
provide medical care for poor persons.  The city pays these physicians only $20 per hour, and it has refused to increase their wages.  These independent physicians, who do not belong to a union, agreed among themselves to boycott the city and refused to provide any further services until the city agreed to pay each of them $50 per hour.

The city claims that the physicians’ actions are an illegal boycott and illegal price-fixing in violation of federal antitrust law.  The physicians claim their conduct is not illegal because they do not possess any market power.

1.     Using the Internet, locate the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to FTC v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Assn., and identify the web site where you found this case.

2.    Evaluate the legality of the physicians’ conduct and the validity of their defense by referring to the decision in FTC v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Assn.