LOUISIANA

I. TRUSTS, COMBINATIONS, AND MONOPOLIES

A. GENERAL ANTITRUST LAWS

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

Const. (1921) art. 13, sec. 5. Laws for creation and regulation of corporations.—The legislature shall enact general laws for the creation and regulation of corporations and for the prohibition of monopolies; and shall provide also for the protection of the public, and of the individual stockholders. (From Const. (1845).)

Const. (1921) art. 19, sec. 14. Combinations and monopolies prohibited. It shall be unlawful for persons or corporations, or their legal representatives, to combine or conspire together, or to unite, or pool their interests for the purpose of forcing up or down the price of any agricultural or manufactured product or article of necessity, for speculative purposes, and all combinations, trusts, or conspiracies in restraint of trade, commerce, or business, as well as all monopolies or combinations to monopolize trade, commerce, or business, are hereby prohibited in the State of Louisiana, and it shall be the duty of the attorney general, of his own motion, or any district attorney of the State, when so directed by the Governor or the attorney general, to enforce this provision, by the injunction or other legal proceedings, in the name of the State of Louisiana, and particularly by suits for the forfeiture of the charters of offending corporations, incorporated under the laws of the State of Louisiana, and for the ouster from the State of foreign corporations: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the legislature from providing additional remedies for the enforcement of this section. (From Const. (1898) as amended, acts 1936, No. 318, sec. 1, adopted November 3, 1936.)

STATUTORY PROVISIONS
Gen. Stat. Ann. (Dart, 1939)

Sec. 4905. Illegal contracts in restraint of trade-Penalties.Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or

conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce in the State of Louisiana is hereby declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract, or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, not exceeding three (3) years, or by both said punishments, all at the discretion of the court. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 1.)

Sec. 4906. Monopoly by person-Penalties.-Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce within the State of Louisiana, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, not exceeding three (3) years or by both said punishments, all at the discretion of the court. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 2.)

Sec. 4907. Violation of act by corporation-Penalties to officers and agents. Whenever a corporation shall violate any of the penal provisions of this act, such violation shall be deemed to be also that of the individual officers, directors, or agents of such corporation who shall have authorized, ordered, or done any of the acts constituting in whole or in part such violation, and such violation shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and upon conviction therefor of any such officer, director, or agents he shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, not exceeding three (3) years, or by both said punishments, all at the discretion of the court. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 3.)

Sec. 4908. Agreements lessening competition or tending to create monopoly.-It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to lease or sell, or contract for the sale of goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities, whether patented or unpatented, for use, consumption or resale within this state, or to fix a price charged therefor, or discount from, or rebate upon such price, on the condition, agreement or understanding that the purchaser or lessee thereof shall not use or deal in the goods, wares, merchandise, machinery or other commodities of a competitor or competitors of the vendor or lessor, where the effect of such sale, or contract for sale, or lease, or such condition, agreement or understanding may be to substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 4.)

Sec. 4909. Acquisition of stock in competing corporations, when prohibited. No corporation engaged in commerce shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital of another corporation engaged in the same line of commerce, where the effect of such acquisition may be to substantially lessen competition between the corporation whose stock is so acquired and the corporation making the acquisition, or to restrain such commerce in any section or community, or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce. No corporation shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital of two or more corporations engaged in the same line of commerce where the effect of such acquisition, or the use of such stock by the voting or granting of proxies, or otherwise, may be to substantially lessen competition between such corporations, or any of them, whose stock or other share capital is so acquired, or to restrain such commerce in any section or community, or tend to create a monopoly of any line of commerce; provided, however, that nothing in this section contained shall prohibit corporations from purchasing such stock or other share capital solely for investment, and not using same by voting or otherwise to bring about, or in attempting to bring about, the substantial lessening of competition; nor shall anything contained in this section prevent a corporation engaged in commerce from causing the formation and holding and owning and voting share capital of subsidiary corporations for the purpose of carrying on their immediate lawful business, or the natural and legitimate branches of extensions thereof, when the effect of such formation is not to substantially lessen competition; nor shall anything herein contained be construed to prohibit any common carrier in this state from aiding in the construction of branches or short lines so located as to become feeders to the lines of the company so aiding in such construction, or from acquiring or owning all or any part of the stock of such branch lines; nor to prevent any such common carrier from acquiring or owning all or any part of the stock of a branch or short line constructed by an independent company where there is no substantial competition between the company owning the branch line so constructed and the company owning the main line acquiring the property or an interest therein, nor to prevent such common carrier from extending any of its lines through the medium of the acquisition of stock or otherwise of any other such common carrier where there is no substantial competition between the company extending its lines and the company whose stock, property, or interest therein is so acquired; provided, further, that nothing contained in this section shall be held to affect or impair any right heretofore legally acquired. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 5.)

Sec. 4910. Injunctions against violations-Jurisdiction-Proceedings. The several district courts of the State are hereby vested with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of this act, and it shall be the duty of the attorney general or of the several district attorneys in their respective districts under the direction of the attorney general or of the governor, to institute proceedings to prevent and restrain such violations. Such proceedings shall be by way of petition and by citation, setting forth the case and praying that such violations shall be enjoined, or otherwise prohibited. When the parties complained of shall have been duly notified of such petition, the court shall proceed as soon as may be, to the hearing and determination of the case; and pending such action, and before the final decree, the court may at any time make such temporary restraining order or prohibition as shall be deemed just in the premises. Whenever it shall appear to the court before which such proceedings shall be pending, that the ends of justice require that other parties should be brought before the court, the court may cause them to be summoned, whether they reside in the parish in which the court is held or not, and subpoenas to that end may be served in any parish by the sheriff thereof. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 6.)

Sec. 4911. Venue of suits against corporations-Witnesses.Any suit, action, or proceeding under this act in the name of the State against a corporation, shall be brought in the parish where it is domiciled, or if it has no domicil in this State, then in any parish in which it may be found or transacts business. In any suit, action, or proceeding brought by or on behalf of the State of Louisiana, under the provisions of this act, subpoenas for witnesses who are required to attend the court of this State in any parish in any case, civil or criminal, under this act, may run into any other parish; provided, that in civil cases no subpoena shall issue for witnesses living out of the parish in which the court is held a greater distance than one hundred miles from the place of holding the same without the permission of the trial court being first had upon proper application being had and cause shown. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 7.)

Sec. 4912. Plaintiff in injunction suit-Bond-Preliminary injunction. Any person, firm, corporation, or association shall be entitled to sue for and have injunctive relief, in any court of this state having jurisdiction over the parties, against threatened loss or damage by a violation of the provisions of this act, when and under the same conditions and principles as injunctive relief against threatened conduct that will cause loss or damage is granted by courts of equity, under the rules governing such proceedings and under the laws of Louisiana, and upon execution of proper bonds against dam

ages for an injunction improvidently granted; and upon a showing that the danger of irreparable loss or damage is immediate, a preliminary injunction may issue. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 8.)

Sec. 4913. Prima facie evidence of violations-Suspension of prescription.—A final judgment or decree hereafter rendered in any criminal prosecution, or in any civil suit or proceeding, brought by or on behalf of the United States under the antitrust laws of said government, or by or on behalf of this state, under this act, to the effect that a defendant has violated said laws shall be prima facie evidence against such defendant in any civil suit or proceeding brought by any other party against such defendant under said laws as to all matters respecting which said judgment or decree would be an estoppel as between the parties thereto: Provided, That this section shall not apply to consent judgment or decree. Whenever any suit or proceeding, civil or criminal, is instituted by the United States, or by this state, to restrain or punish violations of any of the antitrust laws thereof, the running of prescription of each and every private right of action arising under said laws and based in whole or in part on any matter complained of in said suit or proceeding shall be suspended during the pendency thereof. (Acts 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 9.)

Sec. 4914. Receivership-Sequestration-Interlocutory appeal.— In any case where because of irreparable injury to the public interest injunction has issued, or should issue, under this act, the court may, if required by the ends of justice, issue such interlocutory orders as it may deem requisite for ex officio sequestration or for receivership over any property utilized in violating this law, and if the business is one to which a public interest has attached by reason of the monopoly, or other act of the defendant, or by other circumstances or if the public welfare would suffer from the suspension of defendant's business and the impounding of his property as provided herein, the court may order the judicial sequestrator or receiver appointed by him, after such officer has been sworn and has given bond in such amount as the court shall have fixed, to carry on the business of such defendant until the termination of the suit with all powers customary and necessary in a receivership proceeding, either side aggrieved by the judgment appointing or refusing to appoint a receiver to have suspensive appeal to the court of competent jurisdiction within five days, without bond, upon the original papers and in the appellate court of competent jurisdiction said cause shall be heard and determined within forty days after the appeal is lodged: Provided, should said appeal be lodged during vacation of said court, said period of forty days shall begin immediately after the termination of said vacation. (Act 1915 (E. S.), No. 11, sec. 10.)