Cite as: 504 U. S. 621 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
companies, alleging horizontal price fixing in their fees for title searches and title examinations. One company settled by consent decree, while five other firms continue to contest the matter. The Commission charged the title companies with violating § 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 719, 15 U. S. C. § 45(a)(1), which prohibits "[u]nfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce." One of the principal defenses the companies assert is state-action immunity from antitrust prosecution, as contemplated in the line of cases beginning with Parker v. Brown, 317 U. S. 341 (1943). The Commission rejected this defense, In re Ticor Title Ins. Co., 112 F. T. C. 344 (1989), and the firms sought review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Ruling that state-action immunity was available under the state regulatory schemes in question, the Court of Appeals reversed. 922 F. 2d 1122 (1991). We granted certiorari. 502 U. S. 806 (1991).
I
Title insurance is the business of insuring the record title of real property for persons with some interest in the estate, including owners, occupiers, and lenders. A title insurance policy insures against certain losses or damages sustained by reason of a defect in title not shown on the policy or title report to which it refers. Before issuing a title insurance
Roderick E. Walston, Chief Assistant Attorney General, and Thomas F. Gede, Special Assistant Attorney General, Gale A. Norton, Attorney General of Colorado, Don Stenberg, Attorney General of Nebraska, and Mark W. Barnett, Attorney General of South Dakota; for the American Insurance Association et al. by John E. Nolan, Craig A. Berrington, James H. Bradner, Jr., Theresa L. Sorota, and Patrick J. McNally; for Hartford Fire Insurance Co. et al. by Stephen M. Shapiro, Mark I. Levy, Andrew J. Pincus, and Roy T. Englert, Jr.; and for the National Council on Compensation Insurance by Jerome A. Hochberg and Mark E. Solomons.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the American Land Title Association by Philip H. Rudolph and James R. Maher; and for the Pennsylvania Electric Association by Jeffrey H. Howard.
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