NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JAN 03 2017
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
THE VACCINE CENTER, LLC, DBA No. 14-17207
The Vaccine Center and Travel
Medicine Clinic, a Nevada limited D.C. No.
liability company, 2:12-cv-01849-JCM-NJK
Plaintiff-Appellant,
MEMORANDUM*
v.
GLAXOSMITHKLINE LLC, a
Delaware limited liability company;
SOUTHERN NEVADA HEALTH
DISTRICT,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Nevada
James C. Mahan, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted December 12, 2016
San Francisco, California
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
page 2
Before: KOZINSKI and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges, and GLEASON,**
District Judge.
The Nonprofit Institutions Act exempts non-profits from liability under the
Robinson-Patman Act when they purchase supplies for their “own use.” 15 U.S.C.
§ 13c. The Supreme Court has interpreted “own use” to mean that which promotes
the entity’s “intended institutional operation.” Abbott Labs. v. Portland Retail
Druggists Ass’n, Inc., 425 U.S. 1, 14 (1976).
The Southern Nevada Health District’s intended institutional operation is
broad: County law empowers it “[t]o take whatever action that is necessary to
control communicable diseases,” Clark Cty., Nev., Code § 3.08.070(b). But even
activities that conform to an “extraordinar[il]y broad institutional function” can
satisfy the “own use” provision. De Modena v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan, Inc.,
743 F.2d 1388, 1393 (9th Cir. 1984).
Because the vaccine sales and marketing activities of the Southern Nevada
Health District conformed to the intended institutional operation of such a district,
the Health District purchased the discounted vaccines for its “own use.” The
district court thus properly held that defendants were exempt from Robinson-
Patman liability.
**
The Honorable Sharon L. Gleason, United States District Judge for
the District of Alaska, sitting by designation.
page 3
AFFIRMED.