15 U.S.C. § 35
Section 35 · Recovery of damages, etc., for antitrust violations from any local government, or official or employee thereof acting in an official capacity
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 80 court decisions — leading case City of Columbia v. Omni Outdoor Advertising, Inc. (1991)
Most recently applied in Raymond Benitez v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital (March 2021)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
No damages, interest on damages, costs, or attorney's fees may be recovered under section 4, 4A, or 4C of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 15, 15a, or 15c) from any local government, or official or employee thereof acting in an official capacity.
Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to cases commenced before the effective date of this Act unless the defendant establishes and the court determines, in light of all the circumstances, including the stage of litigation and the availability of alternative relief under the Clayton Act, that it would be inequitable not to apply this subsection to a pending case. In consideration of this section, existence of a jury verdict, district court judgment, or any stage of litigation subsequent thereto, shall be deemed to be prima facie evidence that subsection (a) of this section shall not apply.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
For the effective date of this Act, referred to in subsec. (b), see Effective Date note below.
The Clayton Act, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b), is act Oct. 15, 1914, ch. 323, 38 Stat. 730, as amended, which is classified generally to sections 12, 13, 14 to 19, 20, 21, and 22 to 27 of this title and to sections 52 and 53 of Title 29, Labor. For further details and complete classification of this Act to the Code, see References in Text note set out under section 12 of this title and Tables.
Effective Date
Section effective thirty days before Oct. 24, 1984, see section 6 of Pub. L. 98–544, set out as a note under section 34 of this title.