American and Georgia Hospital Associations file U.S. Supreme Court  amicus brief in important antitrust case addressing hospital mergers

Client(s) American Hospital Association and Georgia Hospital Association

On behalf of the American Hospital Association and the Georgia Hospital Association, Jones Day filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Court to affirm an Eleventh Circuit decision that found a hospital merger involving a local hospital authority was not subject to the federal antitrust laws under the "state-action doctrine." In the amicus brief, Jones Day argued that the Eleventh Circuit's decision (along with the Court's cases applying the state-action doctrine) was consistent with the Court's longstanding "plain-statement rule"--under which the Court interprets federal laws not to intrude on traditional state powers (including the power to delegate authority to political subdivisions like local hospital authorities) unless those laws unambiguously require that interpretation.

Federal Trade Commission v. Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc., No. 11-1160 (U.S.)