California Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Paula Blizzard recently announced that the California Attorney General’s Office (AGO) intends to “reinvigorat[e] criminal prosecutions” under California’s Cartwright Act, Cal. Bus....more
A federal court in Missouri recently ruled that antitrust claims against four real estate broker franchisors and a trade association may proceed to trial based on evidence that the association’s code of ethics may inflate...more
A healthcare staffing firm in Nevada just pled guilty to conspiring with a competitor to fix wages for school nurses and agreeing not to solicit each other’s workers – the nation’s first-ever successful criminal prosecution...more
PE firms with non-competitor, majority-owned portfolio companies will face reduced risks of antitrust liability under Section 1 of the Sherman Act in the Eleventh Circuit. On May 24, 2022, the United States Court of...more
This week, the Ninth Circuit revisits the pleading standard for stating a plausible conspiracy claim under the Sherman Act and examines the proper remedy for instructional error in a suit for disgorgement under the Lanham...more
This week, the Ninth Circuit takes a close look at a sizable antitrust jury award, and explains what constitutes a tax “return” for purposes of bankruptcy law. OPTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES, INC v. NINGBO SUNNY ELECTRONIC CO....more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced yesterday a criminal indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas, Nevada charging a health care staffing company and its former manager of entering into and engaging in...more
More than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly released the Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals in 2016 (Antitrust Guidance), the DOJ has...more
Although courthouse activity has slowed over the past month due to COVID-19 social distancing efforts, federal courts continue to conduct business, even if remotely. Many judges have utilized this time to finalize decisions...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini provided insight on a case in which plaintiffs alleged that UBS AG took part in a global gold price-fixing conspiracy. The court earlier granted UBS' motion to dismiss the...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment on July 19, 2018, in favor of defendants in a nearly decade-old case alleging an unlawful conspiracy in the single-copy magazine industry....more
A violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act requires an agreement between two or more separate economic entities. In Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp., 467 U.S. 752 (1984), the Supreme Court of the United States...more
2017 saw three notable decisions concerning the applicability of the “continuing violation” doctrine in antitrust cases. We discuss below three cases that have taken different approaches in their treatment of this...more
Last week, in In re: Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision holding that purchasers of processed egg products have standing to seek damages from egg...more
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Zaappaaz Inc., a Texas-based online retailer of customizable promotional products, and the company’s president, Azim Makanojiya, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring...more
What facts beyond mere membership in a trade association trigger Sherman Act liability? Next term, the Supreme Court will hear an antitrust case testing the requirements for pleading the conspiracy element of a claim brought...more
A recent complaint charges PepsiCo Inc. with several antitrust violations, including price fixing and predatory pricing in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, conspiracy and attempt to monopolize in violation of...more
On March 22, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit allowed a claim to proceed under § 1 of the Sherman Act against four hospitals acting as a single network under a joint operating agreement. Med. Center at...more
On November 12, 2015, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion partially reversing the dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims in Hanover 3201 Realty, LLC v. Village Supermarkets, Inc., finding that plaintiff Hanover...more
Federal Circuit Interprets Statutory Requirements for Biosimilar Regulatory Pathway - Amgen Inc., v. Sandoz Inc., (Fed. Cir. July 21, 2015): In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal...more
In June, an antitrust suit brought by plaintiff ambulatory surgery centers (“ASCs”) against a health system, health insurers, and a trade association survived a motion to dismiss. Last week, the ASCs’ case cleared the hump of...more
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice claims the statute of limitations for a criminal antitrust violation does not begin to run until the last payment is collected by a conspirator on a sale that was the...more
On May 8, 2015, a jury in Puerto Rico acquitted Thomas Farmer (Farmer), the former vice president of price and yield management for Crowley Liner Services, Inc., of conspiring to suppress and eliminate competition in...more
In this issue: - The U.S. DOJ Secures Two Extraditions of Foreign Nationals on Antitrust Charges: Who Is Next? - U.S. Circuit Courts Limit Reach of Sherman Act Against Asian Cartel - Mark Rosman, Partner...more
From a criminal defendant’s perspective, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland makes an apt point of reference in assessing the law of conspiracy in criminal antitrust cases....more