THE VACCINE CENTER, LLC, DBA The Vaccine Center v. Glaxosmithkline Llc, a Delaware limited liability company

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
THE VACCINE CENTER, LLC, DBA
The Vaccine Center and Travel
Medicine Clinic, a Nevada limited
liability company,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
GLAXOSMITHKLINE LLC, a
Delaware limited liability company;
SOUTHERN NEVADA HEALTH
DISTRICT,
Defendants-Appellees.
No. 14-17207
D.C. No.
2:12-cv-01849-JCM-NJK
MEMORANDUM*
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
FILED
JAN 03 2017
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

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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.

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page 3
AFFIRMED.

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