Facts

Sea Breeze Salt Inc. was a California-based distributor of Mexican solar sea salt and Innofood S.A. de C.V. was a Mexican company that supplied Sea Breeze with salt. Sea Breeze and Innofood brought an antitrust suit against Exportadora de Sal, the world's largest producer of solar sea salt, and Mitsubishi Corp., which owned 49 percent of Exportadora. The Mexican government owned the remaining 51 percent.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs contended that Mitsubishi forced Exportadora to stop selling salt to other companies, leading to the breach of Exportadora's contract to sell 1.25 million tons of salt to Sea Breeze. They claimed that Mitsubishi took advantage of the neglect of Mexican government officials and actively corrupted them. It used its power to ensure favorable terms for Exportadora while effectuating a monopoly on solar sea sales between Mexico and the United States.

Plaintiffs asserted causes of action for violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, violation of Section 3 of the Clayton Act, violation of the Cartwright Act, intentional interference with contract, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Mitsubishi contended that the Act of State Doctrine barred plaintiffs' claims because they called into question the validity of a foreign state's acts in its territory.

Damages

Plaintiffs sought $600 million in damages.

Result

The court concluded that it lacked authority to hear the case under the doctrine, and granted Mitsubishi's motion to dismiss, with prejudice.