Legal Definitions - concert of action

Concert of Action

In legal terms, a "concert of action" refers to a situation where two or more individuals or entities work together with a shared understanding or agreement to achieve a common objective. This agreement doesn't have to be a formal contract; it can be implied through their coordinated behavior. The key element is that the parties are acting in unison, often towards a goal that may have legal consequences, such as causing harm or violating a law.

Here are some examples illustrating a concert of action:

• Example 1: Price Fixing Among Competitors

  Imagine two major electronics retailers, "TechGiant" and "ElectroMart," who are direct competitors in a city. Instead of competing on price, their senior executives meet secretly and agree that they will both raise the price of a popular new smartphone model by 15% on the same day. They don't sign a formal contract, but they shake hands on the deal and execute the price change as planned. This coordinated effort to manipulate market prices constitutes a concert of action because both companies, through their executives, had a shared understanding and acted together to achieve the common goal of increasing their profits by limiting competition, which is illegal under antitrust laws.

• Example 2: Coordinated Online Harassment

  A group of individuals on a social media platform dislikes a particular public figure. They decide, through a private chat group, to simultaneously post a barrage of false and defamatory statements about this person across various public forums and social media sites, all at a pre-arranged time. Their goal is to damage the public figure's reputation and career. Even without a formal written agreement, their coordinated timing and content, stemming from a shared understanding in their private chat, demonstrate a concert of action. If the public figure sues for defamation, all individuals involved in this coordinated effort could be held jointly responsible for the harm caused.

• Example 3: Environmental Protest Blockade

  Several environmental activist groups want to prevent a logging company from felling trees in a protected forest area. They communicate and agree to send members to simultaneously block all access roads leading into the forest on a specific morning. Each group sends its members to a different road, but their actions are synchronized and aimed at the single objective of halting the logging operation. This collective and coordinated effort to obstruct access, based on a shared plan, illustrates a concert of action. If the logging company incurs significant losses due to the blockade, the activists involved could face civil or even criminal charges for their collective actions.