Gold medalists win appeal in competitive swimming antitrust case

Two Olympic gold medalists won an appeal Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the organization’s control of international swimming competitions, when the Ninth Circuit Court overturned a lower court’s decision to end the case and deny certification to the class competition.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the district court erred in finding that a robust “rule of reason” analysis applied to this case because the courts lacked experience with the rules of an international and Olympic sports governing body.

“It is well established that the likelihood that horizontal price and output restrictions are anticompetitive is generally sufficient to…