Local Land Use Regulations and Antitrust Laws
|
| Land use regulation is accomplished in large part through the zoning laws of local governments. Given the nature of such laws to restrict how a parcel of land is utilized, local governments may find themselves on the receiving end of an antitrust lawsuit. The recipient of a negative zoning decision may claim that the decision is injurious to competition and thus violative of federal antitrust law.
The Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, which were respectively instituted to preserve and maintain competition in the marketplace and create a private cause of action for those aggrieved by antitrust activity, form the foundation of federal antitrust law. Based on sovereignty principles, states are exempt from application of the Sherman Act. Local governments do not generally enjoy such immunity unless it is shown that the state has expressed an anticompetitive policy and the local government acted according to statutory authority.
Though local governments are subject to antitrust lawsuits, much of the sting from such actions was removed with the enactment of the Local Government Antitrust Act of 1984. Under this Act, local governments and their officials are exempt from damage claims in antitrust actions, though injunctive relief may still be claimed against them. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |