Concord Boat Corp. v. Brunswick Corp.

A number of boat builders 2 brought this antitrust action against stern drive engine manufacturer Brunswick Corporation (Brunswick) for violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2 (1994), and of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18 (1994). Brunswick counterclaimed, arguing that the boat builders had themselves conspired to restrain trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The case was tried to a jury for ten weeks, and a verdict was returned in favor of the boat builders for $44,371,-761. Post trial motions were filed by both sides, and judgment was eventually entered for the boat builders in the amount *1044 of $133,115,283, plus $7,783,224 in attorney fees and $1,267,424 in costs. The district court granted Brunswick’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on its counterclaim, but denied its motions for a new trial and for judgment as a matter of law on the boat builders’ claims. It also denied the boat builders’ motion for equitable relief. Both sides appeal, and we reverse.

I.

A.

Neither side contests the finding of the jury that the relevant market is the market for inboard and stern drive marine engines. Since the early 1980s there have been a number of manufacturers in the market, including inboard manufacturers PCM, Indmar, Crusader, Volvo, Marine Power, MTU, Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, Cummins, and Toyota, and stern drive manufacturers Brunswick, Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC), Volvo Penta of the Americas (Volvo), and Yamaha. In this opinion we employ the term “stern drive engines” to include both types of engines.

The manufacturers use standard automobile engine blocks to make stern drive engines for motor boats. They “marinize” the automobile engines and equip them with a drive system and then sell them to boat builders who may be affiliated with the manufacturer or may be independent buyers. The boat builders install the engines in their brand name boats and sell the completed boats to dealers. Stern drive engines are used primarily in recreational power boats known as runabouts, which are typical water skiing boats, and in cruising boats, which are larger and more expensive boats and usually have cabins. Runabouts and cruising boats together make up about 40% of all recreational power boats.

Brunswick has been the market leader in stern drive engine manufacturing for many years, and by 1983 it had earned a 75% market share. Beginning in 1982 it employed McKinsey & Company (McKin-sey) to provide consulting services to its engine business. McKinsey consultants suggested various ways for Brunswick to increase the sales of its engines. In 1984 Brunswick began to offer market share discounts to boat builders and dealers. Several of its competitors, including Volvo and OMC, also offered market share discounts at about the same time. Under the Brunswick programs, boat builders and dealers could agree to purchase a certain percentage of their engine requirements from Brunswick for a fixed period of time in exchange for a discount off the list price of the engine. From 1984 to 1994, Brunswick offered a 3% discount to boat builders who bought 80% of their engines from the company, a 2% discount for 70% of all purchases, and a 1% discount for those who took 60% of their needs from Brunswick. For the 1995 to 1997 model year program, the market share requirements were reduced so that the maximum 3% discount could be earned by buying 70% from Brunswick; customers could receive a 2% discount for 65% market share and 1% for 60% market share. Another feature was added to the program in 1989 to offer long term discounts of an additional 1 or 2% to anyone who signed a market share agreement for two to three .years. 3 Boat builders also could receive a volume discount of up to 5% based on the quantity of engines purchased. Brunswick attempted to increase its market share requirement to 95% in its proposed 1994 “Industry Growth Program,” but was un *1045 successful due to serious backlash from boat builders. The market share discounts were eliminated entirely in the middle of 1997.

Neither the regular market share discount program, the long term program, nor the volume discount program obligated boat builders and dealers to purchase engines from Brunswick, and none of the programs restricted the ability of builders and dealers to purchase engines from other engine manufacturers. Builders and dealers were able to buy up to 40% of their engines from other manufacturers and still obtain a discount from Brunswick. Several boat builders chose to take a higher percentage of their engines from Brunswick than necessary to qualify for its largest market share discount; some purchased 95 or 100% of their engines from Brunswick.

In the year after Brunswick and other stern drive engine manufacturers instituted market share discount programs, Brunswick’s largest domestic competitor, OMC, introduced a new stern drive engine called the “Cobra.” The Cobra engine registered solid early sales, which increased OMC’s stern drive engine market share and simultaneously reduced Brunswick’s market share to approximately 50%. Brunswick began exploring its competitive options, and in December 1986 it purchased two of the largest boat builders, U.S. Marine (Bayliner) and Ray Industries (Sea Ray). 4 These purchases were noted throughout the boating industry. Brunswick hoped this vertical integration would enable it to synthesize engine manufacturing and boat building, leading to a higher quality and less expensive product.

Other events occurred about this time which improved Brunswick’s competitive position. OMC’s success with the Cobra was short lived because the company began receiving complaints that the engine’s shift cable was defective. After a year investigating complaints, OMC was forced to recall all of its Cobra engines in 1989. This resulted in significant market share gains by Brunswick. Brunswick also experienced a market share gain in 1993 as a result of mistakes made by Volvo and OMC when they merged, leading to decreased consumer confidence in their products. In 1994 Yamaha, another stern drive engine manufacturer, left the market. The price of Brunswick’s stern drive engine increased between 1986 and 1997 from $4775 to $4984, fluctuating both upward and downward in the interim.

B.

The boat builders filed this antitrust suit in 1995, more than ten years after Brunswick and other stern drive engine manufacturers first instituted market share discount programs, and over nine years after Brunswick acquired Bayliner and Sea Ray. They alleged that Brunswick had violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act by acquiring Bayliner and Sea Ray in 1986 and subsequently holding them, enabling Brunswick to create a monopoly in the stern drive engine market. They contended that Brunswick had used its market share discounts, volume discounts, and long term discounts and contracts, coupled with the market power it had achieved in purchasing Bayliner and Sea Ray, to restrain trade and to monopolize the market in *1046 violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. According to the boat builders, Brunswick’s monopolization of the market enabled it to charge supracompetitive high prices for their engines, which drove other engine manufacturers out of business. The boat builders also claimed that Brunswick had fraudulently concealed both the special deals that they gave to certain boat builders and the stern drive engine that Bayliner was developing.

Brunswick denied the allegations and counterclaimed against several of the boat builders, alleging that they had conspired to boycott Brunswick engines at industry boat shows and to price Brunswick engines higher than competitors’ engines in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Brunswick also brought three state law counterclaims against two of the boat builders, alleging that they had submitted falsified market share affidavits.

Both sides filed pretrial motions, including Brunswick’s motion in limine to limit the testimony of Dr. Robert Hall, the expert witness for the boat builders. Brunswick argued that Dr. Hall’s economic model was unreliable and did not have the capacity to distinguish between lawful and unlawful market behavior; his opinion therefore could not provide the jury with an adequate basis to assess antitrust liability or damages. At a pretrial Daubert hearing, 5 the boat builders assured the district court that Dr. Hall’s testimony and economic model would segregate unlawful conduct by Brunswick from lawful behavior that had contributed to its market share. The district court did not make specific findings regarding Dr. Hall’s methodology or the bases of his opinions, but it ruled that the jury could draw its own conclusions about the value of his testimony.

During the course of the ten week trial, both parties called numerous witnesses and presented over 800 exhibits, including voluminous economic data, charts and graphs made in the course of business and for trial purposes, internal business memo-randa, consultants’ reports, deposition testimony, and much more. The boat builders called over 30 witnesses, many of whom testified by videotaped deposition. Among these witnesses were owners of some of the plaintiff boat building companies, as well as several current and former Brunswick employees. Brunswick called some 15 witnesses, including its own employees and owners of boat building companies and boat dealerships. Expert witnesses presented differing interpretations of stern drive engine market events and of Brunswick’s conduct in that market.

The boat builders’ primary evidence to establish Brunswick’s antitrust liability was presented by their sole expert, Dr. Hall, a professor of economics at Stanford University. He testified that Brunswick had monopoly power in the stern drive market that enabled it to use its market share discount programs to impose a “tax” on boat builders and dealers who chose to purchase engines from other manufacturers. He defined the “tax” as the discount these purchasers gave up by not buying from Brunswick. He stated that Brunswick’s program effectively required its competitors to charge substantially lower prices in order to convince customers to purchase from them and forgo the discount. Dr. Hall further testified that the discount programs, combined with the market power Brunswick acquired by purchasing Bayliner and Sea Ray, enabled Brunswick to capture 78% of the stern drive engine market. According to Dr. Hall, other manufacturers could not enter into stern drive engine manufacturing as a result of Brunswick’s having such a high percentage of the market. He concluded that the discount programs were anticom-petitive.

In support of the boat builders’ damage claim, Dr. Hall relied on the Cournot mod *1047 el of economic theory that posits that a firm “maximizes its profits by assuming the observed output of other firms as a given, and then equating its own marginal cost and marginal revenue on that assumption.” 4 Phillip E. Areeda et al., Antitrust Law: An Analysis of Antitrust Principles and Their Application ¶ 925a (rev. ed.1998). Dr. Hall postulated that in a stern drive engine market that was competitive, Brunswick and some other firm would each maintain a 50% market share. Under this theory, any market share over 50% would be evidence of anticompetitive conduct on Brunswick’s part. Since Brunswick at various points in time had garnered a market share as large as 78% percent, Dr. Hall concluded that it had engaged in anticompetitive conduct and that the boat builders had been overcharged at the moment Brunswick’s market share surpassed the 50% threshold.

Brunswick moved for judgment as a matter of law at the close of the boat builders’ case. The district court heard arguments on the motion but declined to rule on it at that stage. Brunswick then called its various witnesses, including two expert witnesses. Dr. Frederick Warren-Boulton, former chief economist for the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice, testified that Brunswick’s discount programs served efficiency and business purposes by improving the predictability of engine demand and by helping to keep manufacturing costs to a minimum. He explained that the discount programs encouraged competition in the boat building industry by providing discounts to smaller boat builders who otherwise would not be able to order sufficient quantities of engines to qualify for strict volume discounts. Dr. Richard Rapp, an economist who is president of National Economic Research Associates, testified that there was no rational basis by which Dr. Hall’s model could identify alleged overcharges. He pointed out that the Hall model used a mechanical formula to determine Brunswick’s alleged overcharge percentage for any year. The only independent variable in the formula was Brunswick’s stern drive market share. See Tr. at 5288-91. According to the formula, an overcharge was calculated anytime Brunswick’s market share surpassed 50%. See id. The price at which Brunswick sold its engines was therefore irrelevant for purposes of the formula because the overcharge amount was related solely to Brunswick’s market share. See id.

The case was submitted to the jury with a detailed verdict form divided into a number of sections. 6 The jury deliberated for a day and a half before returning its verdict. It found that Brunswick had violated three antitrust statutes, Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act. The jury awarded a total of $44,371,761 in answer to a question that asked it to assess the individual damages suffered by each boat builder as a result of Brunswick’s “antitrust violation or violations.” Although the jury found liability for all three antitrust claims, the form of the verdict did not require it to specify what amount of damages was caused by each type of antitrust violation. The jury was asked, however, to consider damages for three separate time periods: one ending December 7, 1991, 7 one from that date to the day of the verdict, and one for the post verdict period. It found damages only for the period starting December 7, 1991, and running to June 19, 1998, the date of the verdict. It rejected the boat builders’ fraudulent concealment claim, which would have extended the four year limitations period, by awarding no damages for the period before December 7, 1991. The jury also found for the boat builders on Brunswick’s counterclaim for unreasonable restraint of trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and for state law violations.

*1048 C.

Both sides filed post trial motions. Brunswick moved for judgment as a matter of law on Count 1 of its counterclaim, alleging that the boat builders had engaged in a per se unlawful conspiracy to boycott its engines at industry boat shows and to price its engines at a disadvantage to its competitors. The boat builders filed a protective motion for judgment as a matter of law on Brunswick’s counterclaim in the event the court were to overturn the jury verdict. The district court granted Brunswick’s motion on Count 1 of its counterclaim, concluding as a matter of law that the boat builders had committed a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. It awarded Brunswick only nominal damages of $1, however, because of a failure of proof. The boat builders filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, or alternatively for reconsideration of the order granting Brunswick judgment on its antitrust counterclaim. This motion was denied, and neither side has appealed the final resolution of Brunswick’s counterclaim.

Brunswick also filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial on the boat builders’ claims. In support of its motion for judgment, Brunswick attacked both the jury’s finding of liability and its calculation of damages. It contended that Dr. Hall’s testimony should have been limited by the court because his opinion had no basis in the economic reality of the stern drive engine market. Brunswick further claimed that his model was flawed because it failed to account for market share gains that resulted from lawful competitive activity and from market events unrelated to its conduct. Brunswick argued that the jury adopted all aspects of Dr. Hall’s presentation and theory and thus awarded damages for losses due to factors other than any anticompetitive conduct. Brunswick also argued that its market share discount programs were not anticompetitive because they were above cost and were not unlawfully exclusionary. Finally, Brunswick contended that the boat builders had not presented sufficient evidence to sustain the jury’s verdict on any of their claims and that the Clayton Act claims were barred by the statutory limitations period. Brunswick’s motion for a new trial raised many of the same issues. It argued that the jury verdict went against the weight of the evidence, that the damages awarded were grossly excessive, that Dr. Hall’s testimony was unfairly prejudicial, and that the plaintiffs were awarded damages for conduct that was not anticompetitive. The district court denied both motions.

The boat builders filed a motion for equitable relief seeking orders to divest Brunswick of Bayliner and Sea Ray, 8 to proscribe Brunswick’s use of market share discount programs, and to prohibit it from further violation of the antitrust laws. The district court also denied this motion. It ruled that the boat builders’ request for divestiture was barred by laches in light of the jury’s finding of no damages prior to December 7, 1991 and that the balance of equities precluded any order to divest. It also refused to enjoin market share discount programs, again citing laches and no showing of irreparable harm. Finally, the court rejected the boat builders’ request to enjoin Brunswick from violating assorted antitrust laws on the grounds that such an injunction would be imprecise, impossible to monitor and enforce, and so broad that it potentially could preclude Brunswick from engaging in legitimate business activity.

*1049 Following its rulings on the various post trial motions, the district court trebled the damages found by the jury and awarded the boat builders $7,783,223.94 in attorney fees and $1,267,424.18 in costs. See Concord Boat Corp. v. Brunswick Corp., 34 F.Supp.2d 1125, 1134 (E.D.Ark.1998). The final award totaled $142, 165, 931.12.

II.

Brunswick argues on appeal that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the boat builders’ Clayton Act claims were barred by the statute’s four year limitations period and because the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to enable a reasonable jury to find that Brunswick’s discount programs and acquisitions restrained trade and monopolized the market in violation of the Sherman Act. Brunswick contends that above cost discounting and vertical integrations constitute competitive business behavior that should be encouraged because of the resulting benefits for consumers’ and purchasers. 9 It also claims that Dr. Hall’s testimony should not have been admitted because his approach did not provide a reasonable basis for either liability or damages. His opinion that competitive conduct would have resulted in a “50-50 lockstep duopoly” in the market was without factual support, wholly speculative, and methodologically unsound according to Brunswick. See Def.’s Br. at 61. In support of its motion for a new trial Brunswick says that the boat builders’ Clayton Act claims were not timely filed, that it is not possible to know what part of the antitrust damages awarded by the jury resulted from the Clayton violations it found, and that Dr. Hall’s expert opinion should not have been admitted.

The boat builders contend that their evidence was sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to find that Brunswick had used its discounts and acquisitions to restrain trade and monopolize the market in violation of the Sherman Act. They claim that they proved that Brunswick’s monopolization of the engine market resulted in higher engine prices which forced its primary rivals, Volvo and OMC, to merge in 1993 and resulted in Yamaha’s departure from the market in 1994. They also argue that the statute of limitations does not bar their Clayton Act claims because Brunswick’s purchases of Bayliner and Sea Ray were part of a continuing violation and because their damages were only speculative during the limitations period. They also contend that there was no need for the jury to be asked to tie any damages to a particular type of antitrust violation and that the damage award can be sustained if any of their antitrust claims are upheld. Finally, the boat builders cross appeal from the denial of their motion for equitable relief, but they do not appeal the jury’s rejection of their fraudulent concealment claim.

We review de novo the denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law, using the same standards as the district court. See Amerinet, Inc. v. Xerox Corp., 972 F.2d 1483, 1505 (8th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1080, 113 S.Ct. 1048, 122 L.Ed.2d 356 (1993). Judgment as a matter of law is appropriate “[i]f during a trial by jury a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evi-dentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party .... ” Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1). We “must assume as proven all facts that the nonmoving party’s evidence tended to show, give her the benefit of all reasonable inferences, and assume that all conflicts in *1050 the evidence were resolved in her favor.” Hathaway v. Runyon, 132 F.3d 1214, 1220 (8th Cir.1997). Applying this standard, the motion “must be granted when the non-movant’s case rests solely upon speculation and conjecture lacking in probative evidentiary support.” Johnson v. Niagara Mach. & Tool Works, 666 F.2d 1223, 1225 (8th Cir.1981) (internal quotations and citation omitted). This is because the non-moving party, while entitled to all supportable inferences, is not given “the benefit of unreasonable inferences or those at war with the undisputed facts.” Sip-Top, Inc. v. Ekco Group, Inc., 86 F.3d 827, 830 (8th Cir.1996) (citations and internal quotations omitted). A motion for judgment as a matter of law should be granted if, when considering the evidence in this manner, “ ‘without weighing the credibility of the witnesses, there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict.’ ” McGreevy v. Daktronics, Inc., 156 F.3d 837, 840 (8th Cir.1998) (citing Sip-Top, Inc., 86 F.3d at 830); see also Ryther v. KARE 11, 108 F.3d 832, 844 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1119, 117 S.Ct. 2510, 138 L.Ed.2d 1013 (1997). We review the denial of a motion for a new trial under an abuse of discretion standard. See Wood v. Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., 112 F.3d 306, 311 (8th Cir.1997).

III.

A.

The boat builders claim that Brunswick’s purchases of Bayliner and Sea Ray in December 1986 and its continuing holding of them served “substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly” in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act. 15 U.S.C. § 18 (1994). Brunswick argues that these claims are barred by the statute’s limitations period and that its acquisitions were not anticompetitive as a matter of law. Section 7 of the Clayton Act protects against more than one type of anticompetitive conduct, but all cases are governed by the limitations period in Section 4B that requires that an action be commenced “within four years after the cause of action accrued.” 15 U.S.C. § 15b (1994).

Section 7 “is primarily aimed at arresting, at their incipiency, acquisitions and mergers that substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly.” Midwestern Mach., Inc. v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 167 F.3d 439, 442 (8th Cir.1999) (citing United States v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U.S. 586, 589, 77 S.Ct. 872, 1 L.Ed.2d 1057 (1957)). An antitrust cause of action generally “accrues and the statute begins to run when a defendant commits an act that injures a plaintiffs business.” Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 401 U.S. 321, 338, 91 S.Ct. 795, 28 L.Ed.2d 77 (1971). A Section 7 action challenging the initial acquisition of another company’s stocks or assets accrues at the time of the merger or acquisition. See Midwestern Mach., Inc., 167 F.3d at 442-43. Brunswick acquired Bay-liner and Sea Ray. in December 1986, and the cause of action for these widely publicized transactions accrued at that time. The statute’s four year limitations period for the initial acquisitions therefore expired in 1990. Since this action was not filed until 1995, Section 7 claims based on Brunswick’s initial acquisitions are time barred.

Clayton Act claims are not limited to challenging the initial acquisition of stocks or assets, however, since “ ‘holding as well as obtaining assets’ is potentially violative of section 7.” Midwestern Mach., Inc., 167 F.3d at 443 (quoting United States v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 420 U.S. 223, 240, 95 S.Ct. 926, 43 L.Ed.2d 148 (1975)). A Clayton Act violation may occur “ ‘at or any time after the acquisition, depending upon the circumstances of the particular case .’ ” Id. (quoting E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U.S. at 597, 77 S.Ct. 872). “[Wjhile the primary thrust of § 7 is to prohibit and thus to forestall anti-competitive and monopolistic acquisitions,” completed acquisitions and “post-acquisition conduct may amount to a violation of § 7.” Id. (internal quotations and *1051 citations omitted). The rationale for extending Section 7 liability beyond the acquisition itself is that “ ‘as a practical matter it often may be difficult to foresee and evaluate the real impact and effect of an acquisition until the transaction has been completed and the aggregate combine is operating.’ ” Id. at 442-43 (quoting Carlson Cos. v. Sperry & Hutchinson Co., 507 F.2d 959, 962 (8th Cir.1974)).

Section 7 actions challenging the holding or use of assets remain subject to the four year limitations period, and the normal antitrust accrual rule applies. The limitations period thus starts to run at “the point the act first causes injury.” Klehr v. A.O. Smith Corp., 521 U.S. 179, 190-91, 117 S.Ct. 1984, 138 L.Ed.2d 373 (1997) (citing Zenith Radio Corp., 401 U.S. at 339-40, 91 S.Ct. 795); E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U.S. at 598, 77 S.Ct. 872 (action accrues when “threat of the prohibited effects is evident”); ITT Conti nental Baking Co., 420 U.S. at 242, 95 S.Ct. 926 (antitrust action accrues later when there is “no realistic threat of restraint of commerce or creation of a monopoly at the initial acquisition); Midwestern Mach., Inc., 167 F.3d at 442 n. 3 (sweep of Section 7 claims restricted by the statute of limitations, laches, and problems of proof and causation). The statute can be tolled under certain circumstances, such as where a defendant has engaged in fraudulent concealment, see Kansas City, Mo. v. Federal Pacific Elec. Co., 310 F.2d 271 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 371 U.S. 912, 83 S.Ct. 256, 9 L.Ed.2d 171 (1962), or where a plaintiffs damages are only speculative during the limitations period, see Zenith Radio Corp., 401 U.S. at 338-42, 91 S.Ct. 795.

The record indicates that the boat builders did not prove that the statute of limitations was tolled or that the limitations period was extended, unlike the plaintiffs in Midwestern Machinery, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and ITT Continental Baking Company . The limitations period in this case cannot be extended on the basis of the holding and use of the acquisitions because the evidence at trial showed that the boat builders’ injury accrued in 1986. Brunswick’s purchases of Bayliner and Sea Ray were public information at the time of acquisition and were well known throughout the boat manufacturing industry. See Tr. at 1929. At trial the boat builders provided the jury with damage calculations for each year beginning in 1986, and these calculations were based solely on Brunswick’s market share. This showed that the damages resulting from any injury based on Brunswick’s holding and use of Bayliner and Sea Ray could have been quantified as early as 1986. Brunswick’s market share was the only independent variable in the boat builders’ damage formula, and it was easily calculable at that time. Moreover, in 1990 the boat builders’ buying cooperative, Independent Boat Builders, Incorporated (IBBI), advised its members to declare Brunswick’s practices “in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.” Def.’s Ex. 318. This advice would have alerted the boat builders to investigate whatever violations of the antitrust laws might have been committed by Brunswick’s holding and use of the companies it had acquired.

Thus, by 1990 at the very latest the boat builders were aware of their alleged injuries and of their potential Section 7 claims with regard to Brunswick’s holding and use of Bayliner and Sea Ray. As the Seventh Circuit has noted,

the statute of limitations is not tolled simply in order to wait and see just how well the defendant does in the market from which he excluded the plaintiff. Otherwise it would be tolled indefinitely in a very large class of antitrust suits.

Brunswick Corp. v. Riegel Textile Corp., 752 F.2d 261, 271 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1018, 105 S.Ct. 3480, 87 L.Ed.2d 615 (1985). If the rule were different, a merger or acquisition could be subject to continual challenge under Section 7. See Midwestern Mach., Inc., 167 F.3d at 442 n. 3.

*1052 The boat builders also claim that Brunswick’s holding of Bayliner and Sea Ray resulted in a continuing violation, but they cite no appellate decision applying that concept in a Section 7 case. Continuing violations typically arise in the context of Sherman Act or RICO 10 claims where multiple defendants are alleged to be part of an ongoing conspiracy. See, e.g., Zenith Radio Corp., 401 U.S. at 338, 91 S.Ct. 795 (Sherman Act conspiracy); Hanover Shoe, Inc. v. United Shoe Mach. Corp., 392 U.S. 481, 502 n. 15, 88 S.Ct. 2224, 20 L.Ed.2d 1231 (1968) (Sherman Act refusal to deal); Grand Rapids Plastics, Inc. v. Lakian, 188 F.3d 401, 406 (6th Cir.1999), petition for cert. filed, 68 U.S.L.W. 3491 (U.S. Nov. 10, 1999) (No. 99-1232) (Robinson-Patman price discrimination scheme); Hugh Chalmers Motors, Inc. v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc., 184 F.3d 761, 763 (8th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 120 S.Ct. 1162, 145 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1999) (No. 99-934) (antitrust conspiracy involving product tying, price discrimination, restraint of trade, and monopolization). In such a situation, the statute of limitations runs from the last “overt act.” Grand Rapids Plastics, Inc., 188 F.3d at 406 (internal quotations and citation omitted). Continuing violations have not been found outside the RICO or Sherman Act conspiracy context, however, because acts that “simply reflect or implement a prior refusal to deal or acts that are merely unabated inertial consequences (of a single act) do not restart the statute of limitations.” DXS, Inc. v. Siemens Med. Sys., Inc., 100 F.3d 462, 467-68 (6th Cir.1996) (citations and internal quotations omitted).

Even if a continuing violation analysis were applicable to the Section 7 claims here, the boat builders have not shown any overt act that would restart the limitations period. The holding or use of assets is by its nature an “unabated inertial consequence[ ]” of the initial acquisition. DXS, Inc., 100 F.3d at 467 (internal quotations and citations omitted). Where a company is merely holding or using assets in the same manner as at the time of acquisition, there is no “separate new overt act” to restart the limitations period as is found, for example, in each new sale by a Sherman Act price fixing defendant. Cf. Klehr, 521 U.S. at 189, 117 S.Ct. 1984. Rather than engaging in another sale or overt act, this type of defendant simply continues to hold or use an asset. If this were enough to make out a continuing violation, there would in effect be no statute of limitations since a Section 7 challenge to the holding or use of assets could be brought at any time. The policy reasons for the four year statutory limitations period for acquisition claims have been discussed by the Ninth Circuit:

[t]he four-year limitation of Clayton Act § 4B for private antitrust actions for damages is long enough to enable potential plaintiffs to observe the actual effects of a possible antitrust violation and to calculate its potential effects. The abuses which would occur if plaintiffs were permitted to search the history of other firms and challenge at their pleasure any possible violations, no matter how old, seem apparent.

International Tel. & Tel. Corp. v. General Tel. & Elecs. Corp., 518 F.2d 913, 929 (9th Cir.1975), overruled on other grounds, California v. American Stores Co., 495 U.S. 271, 110 S.Ct. 1853, 109 L.Ed.2d 240 (1990).

The boat builders rely on a civil RICO case and two district court cases in arguing that a continuing violation can be found in the Section 7 context. See Klehr, 521 U.S. at 189, 117 S.Ct. 1984; see also Telectronics Proprietary, Ltd. v. Medtronic, Inc.,