VIM, INC. v. Somerset Hotel Ass'n

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

D. BROOKS SMITH, District Judge.

This is an antitrust case in which plaintiffs, who wished to and ultimately did build and operate a Hampton Inn hotel in Somerset, Pennsylvania, have sued various defendants who operated existing, competing hotels in that city. The gravamen of plaintiffs’ claims is that defendants, through the use of a trade group known as the Somerset Hotel Association, conspired to impede the construction of the Hampton Inn by interposing patently meritless legal challenges to plaintiffs’ positions before Somerset Borough’s zoning and planning…