State Antitrust

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Senior Counsel Robert M. Langer has authored the Connecticut state chapter of the first edition of State Consumer Protection Law, a treatise published by the ABA’s Antitrust Law Section. Partners Steven B. Malech and Joseph Merschman both contributed to the Connecticut chapter of the predecessor treatise Consumer Protection Law Developments.

Bob is also the co-author of the definitive treatise on Connecticut’s principal consumer protection statute…

Read More Senior Counsel Robert M. Langer Authors the Connecticut Chapter of a Treatise Dedicated to State Consumer Protection Law

Senior Counsel Robert Langer and Partner Benjamin Diessel co-authored an article titled, “Off the Wagon: Rejecting Efforts to Write the Agreement Requirement Out of Section 1 in Liquor Regulation Preemption Cases” in ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Antitrust Magazine. The article discusses the complex intersection of state pricing regulation, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. It explains at length why the…

Read More Senior Counsel Robert Langer and Partner Benjamin Diessel Published an Article in ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Antitrust Magazine

Connecticut has amended its credit card surcharge law, effective as of May 24, 2022, that imposes important disclosure requirements in order for companies to offer discounts to customers who choose to pay in cash rather than by credit card. [1]

What is a Surcharge?

A surcharge is “an additional charge or fee that increases the total amount of a transaction for the privilege of using…

Read More Connecticut Makes Significant Changes to Its Credit Card Surcharge Law Effective Immediately

Wiggin and Dana partners, Robert Langer and John Doroghazi along with Associate Amanda Brahm, have co-authored an important article regarding a key development concerning state consumer protection laws that affect both businesses as well as consumers.

Read More CAVEAT VENDITOR!! The Second Prong of the Cigarette Rule is Alive and Well in Several “Little FTC Act” States

The Connecticut Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday in Soto v. Bushmaster Firearms International, et al. that may greatly expand the reach of Connecticut’s principal consumer protection and business litigation statute, the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (“CUTPA”), to include business conduct not previously generally understood to be subject to CUTPA. CUTPA is Connecticut’s version of the Federal Trade Commission Act, but unlike the FTC…

Read More Connecticut Supreme Court Ruling in Soto v. Bushmaster Firearms International, et al. Expands Scope of CUTPA

In early 1978, I wrote an Op-ed piece for the New York Times describing the 1977 landmark “Chevymobile” settlement by forty-four state attorneys general with General Motors in which it was alleged that GM had failed to disclose the substitution of Chevy engines in 1977 Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Pontiacs. In my Op-ed, I had predicted that the Chevymobile matter, in which I participated as a…

Read More State Antitrust Law and the Constitution

Connecticut recently awarded licenses to four medical marijuana producers, marking the beginning of Connecticut’s legal medical marijuana industry. Although medical marijuana businesses are licensed and heavily regulated by the State of Connecticut,[1] they have had difficulty securing basic financial services due to ambiguities in federal policy. Financial institutions are wary of servicing such clients owing to the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and…

Read More Supreme Court Limits Removal of State Attorney General Actions to Federal Court

Reproduced with permission from Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report, 101 ATRR 408, 09/30/2011. Copyright _ 2011 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com.

I. Introduction
The authority of the Federal Trade Commission (‘‘FTC” or ‘‘the Commission”) to prohibit ‘‘unfair or deceptive acts or practices” dates back to the Wheeler-Lea Amendment to the FTC Act in 1938.[1]

Since then, federal and state courts…

Read More The Second Prong of the “Cigarette Rule’ Continues to Serve as a Basis for Finding Unfairness Under Several “Little FTC Acts’

Eight years ago, in the fall of 2002, we authored an article in the pages of the Antitrust Report that warned of the dangers of assuming that state antitrust law would always be the same as its federal counterpart.1 That warning is even more salient today than when originally written. The United States Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v.

Read More So You Still Think You’re Safe Under the Antitrust Laws? Another Word of Advice To Those Who Would Ignore The States