In U.S. v. Grimm et al., Second Circuit Court of Appeals explained its earlier decision to reverse the municipal bond bid-rigging convictions of three former General Electric Co. officials. The three former GE executives were accused of paying kickbacks to brokers as part of a scheme that cheated cities and towns out of funds for […]
Category Archives: Standard for Alleging Conspiracy
Second Circuit Reverses Executives’ Municipal Bond Bid-Rigging Convictions
December 20, 2013 – 10:29 pm
Court Orders Disclosure of Separate Criminal Case Documents in Antitrust MDL
December 19, 2013 – 2:52 pm
In In Re: Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Panasonic Corp. to hand over documents used in a separate grand jury investigation that led Panasonic subsidiary Sanyo Electronics Co. Ltd. to plead guilty to antitrust charges and pay $10.7 million. The present case is a multidistrict price-fixing suit, […]
HP Files Antitrust Suit Over ODD Price-Fixing Scheme
October 29, 2013 – 2:23 pm
In Hewlett-Packard Co. v. LG Electronics Inc. et al., Hewlett-Packard Co. sued LG Electronics, Koninklijke Philips NV, Pioneer Corp., and various subsidiaries for their alleged involvement in a massive optical disc drive (“ODD”) price-fixing conspiracy. In its suit, HP claims that defendants violated the Sherman Act and California antitrust laws when they shared confidential business […]
Court May Not Rely on Defendant’s Allegation of Unilateral Conduct to Dismiss at Pleading Stage of a Conspiracy Case
September 22, 2013 – 9:08 am
In Evergreen Partnering Group Inc. et al. v. Pactiv Corp. et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that in a refusal-to-deal case a plaintiff can survive a motion to dismiss by alleging the basic contours of a plausible conspiracy. The plaintiff alleged that a group of defendants conspired not to […]
Allegations that Copyright Owners Conspired to Restrain Competition Dismissed
July 3, 2013 – 11:11 am
In Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. v. American Home Realty Network Inc. et al., District of Maryland Alexander Williams Jr. dismissed antitrust claims arising in a copyright infringement case. The court held that the defendant real estate referral service did not plausibly allege that the plaintiff conspired to file sham copyright infringement suits intended to […]
Court Dismisses Medical Testing Labs’ Monopoly Suit Against Health Insurers
June 27, 2013 – 5:36 pm
In Rheumatology Diagnostics Laboratory Inc. et al. v. Aetna Inc., et al, Northern District of California Judge Jon Tigar dismissed medical testing labs’ antitrust suit alleging that Quest Diagnostics improperly offered insurers incentives so that they would refuse to deal with its competitors. The suit accused Quest of offering predatory discounts to health insurance companies […]
Court Dismisses Antitrust Allegations Against C-SPAN
June 19, 2013 – 4:31 pm
In Sky Angel U.S. LLC v. National Cable Satellite Corp. d/b/a C-SPAN, District of Columbia Judge Rudolph Contreras dismissed Sky Angel’s antitrust suit against National Cable Satellite Corp. (C-SPAN). In its suit, Sky Angel, a Christian Internet television provider, claimed that C-SPAN violated §1 of the Sherman Act by pulling its programming from Sky Angel’s […]
Court Dismisses Airport Duty-Free Retailers’ Antitrust Suit
May 29, 2013 – 5:19 pm
In Duty Free Americas Inc. v. Estee Lauder Cos. Inc., Southern District of Florida Judge Robert N. Scola dismissed Duty Free Americas Inc. (DFA)’s suit accusing Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. (ELC) of attempting to force it out of the airport retail business and monopolize the beauty product market in duty-free stores. DFA, which operates duty-free stores in […]
FTC Judge Dismissed FTC’s Iron Pipe Fittings Price-Fixing Conspiracy Claim
May 29, 2013 – 4:39 pm
In In the Matter of McWane Inc, and Star Pipe Products Ltd., Federal Trade Commission Administrative Judge D. Michael Chappell dismissed a price-fixing conspiracy claim in FTC’s law suit against McWane Inc., holding that McWane did not conspire with two other competitors — Star Pipe Products Ltd. and Sigma Corp. — to fix prices on […]