Antitrust Practice

Representative Antitrust Direct Action Cases:

Represented large merchants – including national supermarket and drug store chains, airlines, and other national merchants – in pursuing and successfully resolving litigation against Visa and MasterCard, and subsequently against American Express, for violations of the Sherman Act that led to recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in supracompetitive fees from the payment networks. In re: Payment Card Interchange Fee & Merch. Disc. Antitrust Litig. (E.D.N.Y.) & In re American Express Antitrust Litig. (E.D.N.Y.). 

Prosecuted and successfully resolved numerous cases in federal courts around the country against international or domestic cartels on behalf of individual companies. In re Citric Acid Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Cathode Ray Tubes Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Antitrust Litig. (D. Conn.); In re Ferrosilicon Antitrust Litig. (W.D. Pa.); In re Graphite Electrodes Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Pa.); In re Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Pa.); In re Jones Act Shipping Rates Antitrust Litig. (M.D. Fla.); In re Liquid Crystal Display Tubes Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Monosodium Glutamate Antitrust Litig. (D. Minn.); In re Nitrile Rubber Antitrust Litig. (W.D. Pa.); In re Parcel Tanker Freight Rates Antitrust Litig. (M.D. Fla.); In re Polychloroprene Antitrust Litig. (D. Conn.); In re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ohio); In re Rubber Processing Chemicals Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Sorbates Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Styrene Butadiene Rubber Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ohio); and In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig. (D.D.C.).

Represented an ultra-low-cost airline in a historic predatory pricing case against a legacy airline, resulting in an appellate win for our client and a landmark decision on the predation claim with implications not just for the airline industry but other industries as well. The decision is the only time an airline has prevailed on a predation claim in an appellate court and one of the few appellate decisions for a plaintiff on a predation claim. The case successfully settled before trial. Spirit Airlines v. Northwest Airlines (E.D. Mich).

Representing national retailers with drugstores and a drug wholesaler in an antitrust price-fixing conspiracy case in federal court against the major manufacturers of generic drugs. In re Generic Drug Price Fixing Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Pa.).

Represented, and currently representing, numerous national drugstore and supermarket chains with pharmacies in federal antitrust cases challenging efforts by brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers to keep generic competitors out of the market. These cases ultimately resulted in a circuit split that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis, Inc., 133 S. Ct. 2223 (2013), in which we filed an amicus brief.

Represented Attorneys General of various States prosecuting bid-rigging cases involving road construction, dairy, and school bus contracts. These cases all resolved successfully following discovery, and in some instances, after working cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Justice in securing justice for the victims.

Represented national grocers and other large purchasers, and continue to represent a national food distributor and a quick-service restaurant, in antitrust litigation against the country’s largest chicken producers. Various portions of these cases resolved on favorable terms for our clients after fact and expert discovery and before trial In re: Broilers Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 1:16-cv-08637 (N.D. Ill.).

Represent national grocers, a national food distributor, and other large purchasers in antitrust litigation against the country’s largest producers of pork and beef. In re Pork Antitrust Litig. (D. Minn.); In re Beef Antitrust Litig. (D. Minn.).

Represented several large grocers and wholesalers in multidistrict antitrust litigation against the three largest packaged tuna manufacturers and their respective foreign parent companies who were alleged to have conspired to fix the price of packaged tuna. In re Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litig. (S.D. Cal).

Represent numerous large companies and their health plans in direct action litigation against the Blue Cross and Blue Shield entities for allocating the market for National Accounts and restricting choices in the marketplace.

Representative Antitrust Class Action Cases:

Secured a $100 million settlement and going-forward rate relief for App developers in Cameron et al. Apple, Inc., 19-cv-03074 (N.D. Cal.). The case alleged Apple was able to charge supracompetitive fees to app developers by restricting access to payment options. (Resulted in American Antitrust Institute Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement award in 2022).

Secured a $453 million settlement for direct purchasers of the drug Glumetza. In re Glumetza Antitrust Litigation, 19-cv-6156 (N.D. Cal.). The case involved allegations that direct purchasers of the pharmaceutical product Glumetza overpaid for the drug as a result of a payoff to potential generic competitors.

Secured a $485 million settlement for direct purchasers in Meijer, Inc. v. Ranbaxy Inc., Case No. 15-cv-11828 (D. Mass.). The claim alleged Ranbaxy conspired to defraud U.S. regulatory authorities into giving the company certain regulatory exclusivities to produce generic versions of Novartis AG's blood pressure drug Diovan, Pfizer's acid reflux medication Nexium, and Genentech's antiviral drug Valcyte.

Representing putative classes in cases against the following, among others:

• Apple for its conduct involving its Apple Pay product;
• Express Scripts, Inc. for its conduct involving Prime Therapeutics;
• Biogen for its conduct related to the drug Tecfidera;
• Amazon for its conduct regarding eBooks;
• The NHL and CFL teams for their conduct related to player allocation;
• Apple for its conduct related to its iPhone; and
• Audible for its conduct related to audiobooks.