Chicago — A major potash antitrust case, Minn-Chem Inc. v. Agrium Inc., is now back before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Expectations are that U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo will soon enter a pretrial schedule, which should indicate how long the parties have for discovery as none was originally taken in the case, which was filed in 2008. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit voted 8-0 in a decision dated June 27 to send the case back to the lower court (GM July 2, p. 1). The defendant potash producers have indicated that they may appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. They have 90 days to file and the deadline has yet to expire, though it is a discretionary appeal; the Supreme Court does not have to hear it.
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