In In re: ATM Fee Antitrust Litigation, the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a long-running class action against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and other banks alleging that ATM interchange fees were the product of an illegal agreement. The court held that bank customer plaintiffs lacked standing to sue for damages because they […]
Author Archives: Steve Semeraro
Credit Card Companies Agree to Settle Merchant Fee Class Action, But Large Class Members Object
August 6, 2012 – 2:58 pm
Update: The court has held that the plaintiffs must formally seek approval of the proposed settlement by October 19, 2012. In In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, the defendants have agreed to a $7.25 billion settlement of multidistrict litigation in the Eastern District of New York. Plaintiff merchants filed the […]
Eleventh Circuit Upheld Unwinding of a $78 Million Merger of Battery Separator Competitors
July 18, 2012 – 2:49 pm
In Polypore International Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the FTC’s ruling, requiring Polypore International Inc. to divest of assets gained in its $76 million acquisition of Microporous Products LP. In 2008, The FTC filed a complaint to block Polypore’s $76 million purchase of Microporous because the deal substantially reduced competition in […]
Court Denies UBS Executives’ Motion to Dismiss Charges Against Them
July 18, 2012 – 2:23 pm
In U.S. v. Ghavami, Southern District of New York Judge Kimba M. Wood denied a motion to dismiss part of an indictment against three former UBS AG executives over alleged fraud schemes and bid-rigging related to contracts in the municipal bond market. In their motion to dismiss, defendants argued that a five-year statute of limitations […]
Credit Card Companies Agree to Settle Merchant Fee Class Action
July 16, 2012 – 4:04 pm
In In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, the defendants have agreed to a $7.25 billion settlement of multidistrict litigation being litigated in the Eastern District of New York. Plaintiff merchants filed the 2005 case alleging that the Visa and MasterCard associations and large banks conspired to increase the fees paid […]
Seventh Circuit Dismissed Antitrust Suit Against NCAA
July 2, 2012 – 4:51 pm
In Agnew et al. v. NCAA, the Seventh Circuit dismissed a proposed price-fixing class action against the NCAA. In October 2010, the name plaintiff, a former Rice University football player, filed a Sherman Act claim, alleging that NCAA member institutions ran a degree price-fixing scheme. For years, the complaint alleges, the schools agreed that they […]
Recycler’s Antitrust Suit Against Disposable Food Container Giants Is Dismissed
July 2, 2012 – 4:50 pm
In Evergreen Partnering Group, Inc. et al. v, Pactiv Corp. et al., Massachusetts District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns, dismissed with prejudice Evergreen Partnering Group, Inc.’s antitrust suit against Solo Cup Co. and other disposable food container giants. The court found that Evergreen had not provided any details to support its claims of conspiracy against […]
Sixth Circuit Revives Suit Involving Energy Rebates
July 2, 2012 – 4:49 pm
In Williams et al. v. Duke Energy International, Inc. et al., the Sixth Circuit found that a putative antitrust class action, alleging that Duke Energy Corp. gave unlawful rebates to General Motors Co. and several major corporations, was wrongfully dismissed by an Ohio federal court. In 2009, the lower court ruled that because of the filed-rate doctrine […]
Brazil Raises Merger Turnover Antitrust Review Thresholds
July 2, 2012 – 4:48 pm
Brazil’s Ministries of Justice and Finance raised the thresholds for transactions to trigger a review under the country’s new preclosing merger control system. Under the new law, the minimum levels of turnover needed to require an antitrust review went from 400 million reais ($201 million) for one party and 30 million reais for the other […]