Category Archives: US Federal Courts

Judge Announces He Will Reverse Pay-for-Delay Dismissal Judgment If Appellate Court Remands In Light of Recent Supreme Court Decision

In In Re: AndroGel Antitrust Litigation (No. II), Northern District of Georgia Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. announced that, if the Eleventh Circuit remands the case, he would overturn the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ pay-for-delay claims given the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision.  That case involved a Federal Trade Commission prosecution of the same settlement […]

State Regulations on Cardiac Procedure Upheld

In Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital v. Washington State Department of Health et al., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff hospital’s challenge to Washington state’s restrictions on the number of hospitals that can perform elective angioplasties.  The complaint alleged that the practices were anticompetitive and discriminatory, […]

HP Files Antitrust Suit Over ODD Price-Fixing Scheme

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 Orders Tricleer Antitrust Suit to Proceed to Discovery

In Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. et al. v. Apotex Inc. et al., New Jersey District Court Judge Noel L. Hillman denied Actelion Pharmaceutical Ltd.’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and to dismiss defendants’ counterclaims in Actelion’s lawsuit over its blood pressure medication Tricleer.  Actelion sued several generic drug makers, claiming that antitrust laws don’t require […]

Court Refuses to Dismiss Iron Pipe Fittings Price-Fixing Suit

In In re: Ductile Iron Pipe Fittings Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, New Jersey District Court Judge Anne E. Thompson refused to dismiss indirect purchasers’ class action against McWane Inc. and several other manufacturers, importers, and sellers of ductile iron pipe fittings, accusing the companies of fixing the products’ prices.  While the court dismissed plaintiffs’ unjust […]

Court Agrees to Stay $1.06 Billion Judgment, Pending an Appeal

In In Re Urethane Antitrust Litigation, Kansas District Court Judge John W. Lungstrum stayed a $1.06 billion class action judgment against Dow Chemical Co. while it appeals the decision.  The class action was part of the multidistrict litigation that purchasers of polyether polyol brought against Dow and several other companies, including Bayer AG, BASF SE and Huntsman International LLC., […]

Tenth Circuit Dismisses Software Developer’s Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft

In Novell v. Microsoft Corp., Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed software developer Novell Inc.’s lawsuit against Microsoft Inc., alleging that Microsoft blocked Novell from the market in the 1990s by cutting compatibility with its applications.  The ruling affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to Microsoft, holding that Novell couldn’t show that Microsoft’s […]

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Class Arbitration Waiver Agreements

In American Express Co. et al. v. Italian Colors Restaurant et al., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a class arbitration waiver agreement, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) bars courts from invalidating class action arbitration waivers.  The Second Circuit had held that the agreement in this case was unenforceable because plaintiffs’ costs to arbitrate […]

Court May Not Rely on Defendant’s Allegation of Unilateral Conduct to Dismiss at Pleading Stage of a Conspiracy Case

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 […]

Court Dismisses Antitrust Suit Over Beer Brewery Merger Deal

In Edstrom et al. v. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, Northern District of California Judge Maxine Chesney dismissed a group of consumers’ antitrust suit against Anheuser-Busch InBev over its $20.1 billion acquisition of Grupo Modelo.  In June 2012, Anheuser-Busch announced plans to acquire Modelo.  The DOJ sued to block the deal, in fear that removing Modelo from […]