Law Commons^™

The Economics Of The Insurance Antitrust Suits: Toward An Exclusionary Theory, Peter Siegelman, Ian Ayres

Faculty Articles and Papers

On March 22, 1988, the Attorneys General of eight states filed antitrust actions in state and federal courts' alleging that major insurance and reinsurance companies colluded to boycott specific types of insurance coverage in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act. The suits suggest that this collusion was responsible for the unprecedented increase in premiums and concomitant erosion of coverage that has come to be known as "the insurance crisis."' The lawsuits have provoked fierce denials by insurance industry participants, including assertions that the suits, which came in an election year, were politically motivated.' The litigation is certain to …