Vermont District Court Judge Christina Reiss refused to dismiss attempted monopolization claims filed by dairy farmers against the Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. and Dean Foods Co. Although questions remained about the product market and whether the statute of limitations was met, the court found the allegations sufficient to move forward. The court did dismiss [...]
Category Archives: market definition
Case Accusing Mastiff Breeders of Price Fixing Dismissed
August 19, 2010 – 1:06 pm
District of Ohio Judge George Smith dismissed an antitrust case against the American Mastiff Breeders Council by a former member. The plaintiff alleged that the council violated the antitrust laws by setting capping the price that could be charged for puppies and by excluding the plaintiff from the organization. The court held that the plaintiff [...]
DOJ Attack on Milk Processing Plant Merger to Move Forward
August 18, 2010 – 1:18 pm
E.D. Wisconsin Judge J.P. Stadtmueller held that the Department of Justice’s complaint seeking to undo a consumated merger between milk processing plants adequately stated a claim despite less than precise allegations of the relevant geographic market. The court nevertheless expressed disappointment with the lack of specificity in the complaint.
Patent Challenge Dismissed Because Brand Market Too Narrow
August 18, 2010 – 12:58 pm
S.D. NY Judge Paul Gardephe has dismissed antitrust claims alleging that Bayer had used patents on the drugs Yasmin and Yaz anticompetitively. The court dismissed on the ground that the plaintiff’s alleged relevant markets based on the active ingredients in the drugs were irrationally narrow.
ATM Fee Class Action Survives Motion to Dismiss
July 26, 2010 – 3:33 pm
Northern District of California Judge Charles Breyer denied a motion to dismiss in In re: ATM Fee Antitrust Litigation. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants have illegally conspired to set ATM interchange fees at supra-competitive levels and then passing the fees on to consumers as foreign ATM fees. The defendant banks sought to dismiss the complaint [...]
Alabama Hospital Exclusive Dealing Case Dismissed
May 28, 2010 – 2:08 pm
Judge Myron Thompson, M.D. Ala, dismissed a complaint filed by medical supply equipment companies against several hospitals in the Montgomery, Alabama, area. The complaint alleged that the hospitals violated the antitrust laws by entering exclusive agreements to provide durable medical equipment such as beds, walkers, and wheelchairs, in house. The plaintiffs alleged that the hospital [...]
E-bay Monopolization Case Dismissed
May 28, 2010 – 11:26 am
Judge Jeremy Fogel, N.D. California, has granted summary judgment to E-bay in a case alleging that it monopolized the online auction market on the ground that the plaintiffs lacked antitrust injury. The court found that the plaintiffs had presented no evidence of either restricted output or supra-competitive prices.
Honeywell Alarm Price Fixing Case Dismissed
May 27, 2010 – 3:33 pm
Judge Robert Patterson, Southern District of New York, dismissed without prejudice Integrated Systems complaint alleging that Honeywell had orchestrated a price-fixing conspiracy among retailers and terminated the plaintiff’s dealership when it refused to go along. The court held that allegations of complaints by competing dealers were insufficient to properly allege a conspiracy and that the [...]
Kitchenaid Accused of Monoplizing Mixer Attachment Market
May 25, 2010 – 4:42 pm
Update April 2010: The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice for failing to adequately allege a market and injury to competition. The plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint.
In a recent District of Arizona case, Pourfect Products has sued Whirlpool subsidiary KitchenAid alleging that the company violated Section 2 by telling retailers that an attachment fir [...]
Antitrust Claims Dismissed in Hospital Services Case
January 7, 2010 – 12:46 pm
In Little Rock Cardiology Clinic et al. v. Baptist Health et al., Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a victory for Arkansas hospital network Baptist Health and Blue Cross health insurance affiliate, in an antitrust dispute pitting physician-owned facilities against major insurers and hospital owners. The Appeals Court upheld lower court’s dismissal of the [...]