In In re: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation, Special Master Charles A. Legge said U.S. District Judge Samuel L. Conti should allow the so-called direct action plaintiffs, which include retail chains such as Best Buy Co. Inc. and Target Corp., to proceed with Sherman Act and several other claims against some of the Cathode Ray [...]
Category Archives: Indirect Purchaser Issues
Special Master Issues Recommendation To Allow Retailers’ CRT Claims To Proceed
May 14, 2013 – 3:06 pm
Court Dismissed Pipe Fittings Price-Fixing Suit
March 22, 2013 – 1:55 pm
In Yates Construction Co. Inc. v. Sigma Corp. et al., New Jersey District Court Judge Anne E. Thompson dismissed, with leave to amend, a putative class action brought by indirect purchasers of ductile iron pipe fittings (DIPF) who accused McWane Inc. and other producers of fixing prices for the products. The proposed class sued McWane, [...]
Court Rejects Double Recovery Claim In LCD Antitrust MDL
February 7, 2013 – 7:09 pm
In Rockwell Automation Inc v. AU Optronics Corporation et al., Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston rejected LG Display Co. Ltd.’s argument that Rockwell Automation Inc.’s state price-fixing claims would lead to duplicative recovery in the multidistrict litigation over liquid crystal display panels. LG brought counterclaims and affirmative defenses against Rockwell’s Wisconsin state law [...]
Flat Panel Antitrust Litigation Judge Allows Pass-On Defense Under State Law
February 5, 2013 – 6:25 pm
In In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston has decided to allow some liquid crystal display manufacturers charged with price fixing to assert a pass-on defense. The defense contends that the plaintiffs cannot recover damages because they passed on alleged overcharges to their customers. Although the pass-on defense [...]
California Supreme Court Refused to Hear Pharmacies’ Price-Fixing Case
January 28, 2013 – 5:06 pm
In Clayworth v. Pfizer, the California Supreme Court denied a petition to rehear a consolidated antitrust suit, filed by a group of pharmacies, accusing Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and other drug makers of conspiring to inflate drug prices in the U.S. and keeping lower-priced Canadian drugs off the market. The defendants originally won at the [...]
Court Rejects Double Recovery Claim In LCD Antitrust MDL
January 28, 2013 – 11:42 am
In Rockwell Automation Inc v. AU Optronics Corporation et al., Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston rejected LG Display Co. Ltd.’s argument that Rockwell Automation Inc.’s state price-fixing claims would lead to duplicative recovery in the multidistrict litigation over liquid crystal display panels. LG brought counterclaims and affirmative defenses against Rockwell’s Wisconsin state law [...]
Court Denies Summary Judgment In LCD Panel Antitrust Suit
November 30, 2012 – 1:42 pm
In In re: TFT-LCD Flat Panel Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston denied two motions for partial summary judgment, filed by several electronics makers in order to nix LCD multidistrict litigation price-fixing claims against them. Some of the largest electronics retailers in theU.S., such as Target Corp., Best Buy Co. Inc., and [...]
Hospital Lacks Standing To Seek Damages in a Challenge to a Tying Arrangment Because It Purchased the Bundle Indirectly
October 22, 2012 – 10:24 am
In Lakeland Regional Medical Center Inc. v. Astellas Pharma US Inc. et al., Middle District of Florida Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington held that a Florida hospital lacked standing to sue for damages, allegedly totally $867 million, in an antitrust class action accusing Astellas Pharma of using a patented testing process to restrain competition in [...]
Filed Rate Doctrine Bars Challenge to Energy Price Set at Auction
October 11, 2012 – 9:09 am
In Simon v. KeySpan Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs claims on the ground that the filed rate doctrine blocked a consumer class action alleging that KeySpan used a complex financial transaction to overcharge New York City electricity buyers. The filed rate doctrine holds [...]
Claims Dismissed in Refrigerant Compressor Price Fixing Case
August 16, 2012 – 12:58 pm
In Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Michigan Judge Sean F. Cox dismissed several state antitrust indirect purchaser claims in multidistrict litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the refrigerant compressor market. The court found that indirect purchase plaintiffs must have lived in or suffered an injury in a state to bring indirect purchaser claims [...]