Orwell Natural Gas’s complaint alleging that Dominion Resources Services has engaged in predatory pricing and exlusionary contracting practices has survied a motion to dismiss. The case is moving forward before Judge Donald Nugent in the Northern District of Ohio.
EC Investigates Slovakian Telecom Company
January 23, 2009 – 3:54 pm
The EC conducted unannounced inspection of Slovak Telekom a.s., the incumbent telecom operator in Slovakia based on information that the company may have abused its dominant market position by refusing to supply, price squeezing and tying.
FTC Settles With Physicians Groups for Refusing to Deal with Insurers
January 12, 2009 – 6:38 pm
The FTC has settled claims with two physicians groups that were alleged to have threatened on behalf of groups of physicians to refuse to deal with certain insurance companies unless they raised their fees paid to doctors.
Court Dismisses Proposed Class Action Against Chinese Magnesite Exporters
January 12, 2009 – 4:48 pm
Judge Garret Brown, US District Court for the District of NJ, dismissed price fixing allegations on the ground that the complaint failed to adequately allege a conspiracy or the requisite direct effect on the US market under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act. The court left open the possibility of an amendment.
EU Inspects Smart Card Chip Manufacturers
January 12, 2009 – 4:42 pm
On January 7, 2009, the EC confirmed that it had inspected the premises of several smart card chip producers. These chips are used for the production of smart cards, such as telephone SIM cards, bank cards and identity cards, and the companies inspected may have engaged in price fixing, customer allocation and the exchange of commercially-sensitive information.
Class Action Filed Against Grocery Wholesalers
January 6, 2009 – 4:39 pm
Seeking to represent a class of grocers, D&G Inc. has sued Supervalue, Inc. and C&S Wholesale Grocers alleging an agreement to divide customers and territories to the detriment of retail grocers in response to C&S’s plans to enter the Wisconsin market and compete with Supervalue. The case, D&G Inc. v. Supervalue, Inc. has been filed in the District of Wisconsin.
DOJ Requires Divesitures in Waste Management Merger
January 4, 2009 – 4:00 pm
The DOJ has settled a challenge to the Republic Services/Allied Waste merger, requiring divestiture of a number of routes, transfer stations and land fills. The merger joins the second and third largest waste management firms in the US.
Aluminum Conspiracy to Go to Trial
January 4, 2009 – 3:47 pm
In Champagne Metals v. Ken-Mac Metals, Judge Joe Heaton, US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, has found that the plaintiffs have presented sufficient evidence of a conspiracy among aluminum suppliers and mills to justify use of the co-conspiratory hearsay exception. The case alleges that the nations largest aluminum distributors conspired to pressure mills not to deal with the price cutting Champagne. The court rested its holding on a strong economic theory of conspiracy and some direct evidence as well as circumstantial evidence. The case will not proceed to trial.
FTC Challenges Drug Acquisitions
January 4, 2009 – 3:27 pm
The FTC, along with the state of Minnesota, has sued Ovation Pharmaceuticals, arguing that the drug company acted anticompetitively in aquiring over the course of several months in 2005 and 2006 the only two drugs available in the US to treat a certain congenital heart defects. It acquired Indocin in August 2005, while a potentially competitive drug, Neoprofin, awaited FDA approval. In January 2006, Ovation acquired the US rights to Neoprofin in a transaction falling below the HSR asset acquisition reporting requirements. Upon acquiring the competitive drug, Ovation increased the price of Indocin to hospitals from $36 per vial to approximately $500. When Neoprofin was approved, Ovation priced it at a similar level, and maintained the price level for two years. Given that the only alternative is a risky surgical procedure, hospitals had little choice but to pay the higher prices. The FTC seeks an order requiring Ovation to divest one of the drugs. Ovation released a statement disputing the FTC’s allegations.
Conspiracy Case Against Private Equity Firms May Go Forward
January 4, 2009 – 3:07 pm
A class action, Kirk Dahl et al v. Bain Capital Partners, filed against major private equity firms, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, alleges that the companies conspired to lower the prices of private equity deals. The defendants moved to dismiss on two grounds: 1) that the claim was a disguished securities claim pre-empted by the securities laws; and 2) that the plaintiffs insufficiently alleged a conspiracy under Twombly. Judge Edward Harrington, US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, held that the claim was not pre-empted because the securities laws do not apply to private equity deals and that the plaintiffs pointed to nine transactions that plausibly suggest an illegal agreement existed.