15 U.S.C. § 36
Section 36 · Recovery of damages, etc., for antitrust violations on claim against person based on official action directed by local government, or official or employee thereof acting in an official capacity
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 16 court decisions — leading case Sandcrest Outpatient Services, P.A. v. Cumberland County Hospital System, Inc. (1988)
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) in any claim against a person based on any official action directed by a local government, or official or employee thereof acting in an official capacity.
Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply with respect to cases commenced before the effective date of this Act.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
For effective date of this Act, referred to in subsec. (b), see Effective Date note below.
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.