The Act of State Doctrine: The Need for a Commercial Exception in Antitrust Litigation

This Comment examines the evolution of the act of state doctrine in a commercial context, with specific focus on antitrust litigation. The author analyzes the traditional judicial approach to the act of state doctrine, as well as the alternative approach as presented in the Ninth Circuit\u27s opinion in Timberlane Lumber Co. v. Bank of America. The author concludes that the commercial and extraterritorial nature of most of the majority of antitrust actions and the detrimental effect of the broad application of the act of state doctrine on current federal legislation mandate a commercial exception to this doctrine, and that the alternative approach in Timberlane Lumber Co. is a viable basis for the development of this exception