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Posted By: boxingcardman

Assuming for the sake of argument that a group of customers can combine in restraint of trade, how would you even begin to establish that there had been an actual loss from the combination? It doesn't seem reasonable to me to assume that a group could realistically target a lot for a purchase and profitable break-up. The group doesn't bid in a vacuum. Everyone else who can smell a bargain would be in there too. To get the lot and break it up for profit they would have to win it, which would require them to outbid everyone else targeting the lot for a break-up. If you could get the auctioneer to release the data on the bidders and you took their depositions and asked why they bid what they did, I would expect that most would tell you they didn't think the lot was worth more. You would then be left to argue that the group somehow damaged the seller despite the fact that none of the underbidders was willing to pay as much as the group decided to bid.

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