The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting earlier this month featured federal, state and international enforcers discussing a variety of antitrust and competition issues across jurisdictions....more
On March 6, 2024, Paula Blizzard, the California Department of Justice’s antitrust chief, announced on a panel at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime that the California Attorney General’s...more
Expect More Criminal Enforcement & What You Can Do To Minimize Your Risk -
Antitrust cartel and related collusive scheme enforcement is poised to increase. Several factors support this: (1) the Antitrust Division (the...more
5/10/2021
/ Compliance ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Data Protection Board (EDPB) ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Risk Management ,
UK Brexit
All companies—big and small—are collecting a tsunami of data. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has now challenged corporate America to harness and analyze that data to improve corporate compliance programs by going beyond...more
The federal antitrust enforcement agencies brought three hospital merger challenges and three criminal antitrust enforcement actions in healthcare in the past year. Combined with the incoming Democratic administration,...more
In 2019, the total number of antitrust cases filed against providers dropped to 20 after the 2018 bump (27 cases). In the latest Health Antitrust Litigation Update for Providers, we discuss what kinds of cases were brought...more
11/16/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Insurance Contracts ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Physician Admitting Privileges ,
Physicians ,
Pleadings ,
Professional Regulators ,
Summary Judgment
California Senate Bill (SB) 977, if passed, would broaden the type of healthcare transactions that require California Attorney General (AG) review and approval. SB 977 would require that a healthcare system, private equity...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering a rulemaking to address the use of non-compete provisions in employment contracts. On January 9, 2020, the FTC held a day-long workshop to start a public conversation on...more
Two recent US antitrust class action settlements drew additional scrutiny from federal judges, showing that the allocation of settlement funds between a proposed class and their attorneys will be carefully reviewed for...more
Family-owned wholesalers brought a Robinson-Patman claim against the maker of 5-hour Energy alleging discounts given to Costco amounted to illegal price discrimination. A jury in California rejected the claim after a...more
A Hollywood union’s recent amendments to its union rules has sparked federal antitrust lawsuits by talent agencies. The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labor union and the exclusive collective bargaining representative for...more
10/14/2019
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Boycotts ,
Code of Conduct ,
Entertainment Industry ,
Film Industry ,
Kickbacks ,
LMRA ,
Price-Fixing ,
Racketeering ,
RICO ,
Sherman Act ,
Talent Management ,
Television Shows ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL) ,
Unions ,
Writers
Certifying an antitrust class under Rule 23 has become a battle. In the last 20 years, courts have been changing the game around Rule 23 interpretation, and rigorous analysis at class certification has made briefing...more
Companies involved in the government contracting industry should take note that the government is honing in on anticompetitive conduct affecting government procurements. The federal government has demonstrated an increased...more
6/6/2019
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Division ,
Audits ,
Bid Rigging ,
Competition ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraudulent Procurement ,
Guilty Pleas ,
White Collar Crimes
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that it and the State of North Carolina have reached a settlement with Carolinas Healthcare System / Atrium Health relating to provisions in contracts between the health...more
As the first court of appeals to address the issue of product hopping, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction, finding that product hopping is...more
In this month’s American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting, the program “Antitrust & Health Care: Square Peg in a Round Hole?” featured debate and discussion about antitrust law treatment of health...more
5/3/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
American Hospital Association ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Attorney General ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Healthcare ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Hospitals ,
Stark Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed an Idaho federal district court’s decision ordering the divestiture of a physician practice group that had been acquired by a competing health system. The case, which...more
On October 2, 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued its first business review letter since issuing jointly with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the Agencies’ Antitrust Policy Statement on Sharing of...more
On July 24, 2014, the district court in Animal Sci. Prod., Inc. et al. v. China Nat’l Metals & Minerals Imp. and Exp. Corp. et al., Case No. 2:05-cv-04376 (D.N.J.), dismissed direct purchaser plaintiff’s Amended Complaint...more
The Antitrust in Health Care conference took place May 13 to 14, 2014, in Arlington, Virginia, where a number of the speakers were representatives of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Antitrust Division of the U.S....more
After receiving a draft complaint and a stipulated order from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banning its allegedly deceptive letters to infringers of its scanning technology, MPHJ Technology Investments LLC (MPHJ) filed...more
On January 13, 2014, MPHJ Technology Investment LLC (MPHJ) filed a seven-count complaint against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging various constitutional and other violations, including violations of MPHJ’s First...more