Consumer protection and antitrust attorneys seeking to prevent class certifications have three powerful, but underused, defenses upon which they can rely: a completed, a pending, or an anticipated government investigation or lawsuit (collectively, government action). In certain circumstances, these potential defenses could result in denial of a class certification motion, as a court may find that due to the government action, a class action lawsuit
Read More What is Superiority?Significant Developments in Clinical Integration: Federal Trade Commission Opinion Approves of Physician-Hospital Organization Proposal to Negotiate Jointly with Payers
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On April 13, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Health Care Division (“BC”) issued a 37-page Advisory Opinion (“Opinion”) to TriState Health Partners, Inc. (“TriState”), a physician-hospital organization based in Hagerstown, Maryland, stating that the BC would not recommend that the Commission challenge TriState’s proposed clinical integration program under the antitrust laws. The Opinion is noteworthy because it provides the most detailed discussion…
Read More Significant Developments in Clinical Integration: Federal Trade Commission Opinion Approves of Physician-Hospital Organization Proposal to Negotiate Jointly with PayersUnfair Trade Practices (Volume 12, Connecticut Practice Series)
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Wiggin and Dana proudly announces the release of the Unfair Trade Practices (Vol. 12, Connecticut Practice Series) 2006 Pocket Part. The 300 page pocket part contains an extensive discussion of the “unfairness doctrine” that is considered “must reading” for practitioners in the field. The Pocket contains a new antitrust chapter, Chapter 9, not found in the original book.
The co-authors of the Unfair Trade Practices…
Read More Unfair Trade Practices (Volume 12, Connecticut Practice Series)Independent Ink: Supreme Court Abandons Market Power Presumption of Patents
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Franchisors that own intellectual property (patents, copyrights, or trademarks)for use as part of the franchise system have long been confronted with an unfortunate and misguided presumption that their intellectual property rights automatically gave them market power — an essential element of many antitrust claims — in the system’s patented, copyrighted, or trademarked products and services. From an antitrust perspective, this presumption, although rebuttable, created a…
Read More Independent Ink: Supreme Court Abandons Market Power Presumption of PatentsClass Action Fairness Act of 2005
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Over the past decade, there has been a growing concern that plaintiffs’ lawyers increasingly filed large, national class actions in certain state court venues perceived to be very favorable to plaintiffs. These locations including Madison County, Illinois; Jefferson County, Texas; and Palm Beach County, Florida have been called everything from “magnet” jurisdictions to “magic” jurisdictions. Despite the fact that these class actions often involved plaintiffs…
Read More Class Action Fairness Act of 2005Antitrust and Franchising: Conspiracies Between Franchisors and Franchisees Under Section 1
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A 1993 article in this Journal reported, without fanfare, a federal district court ‘s holding that a “franchisor and franchisee were legally incapable of conspiring” in restraint of trade.1 Since that time, two other district courts and two courts of appeals have echoed that decision.2
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Reprinted with permission from the Franchise Law Journal (American Bar Association), Volume 23, Number 1, Summer 2003
Read More Antitrust and Franchising: Conspiracies Between Franchisors and Franchisees Under Section 1So You Think You’re Safe Under the Antitrust Laws? A Word of Advice to Those Who Would Ignore the States
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Antitrust practitioners generally consider themselves well-versed in key antitrust principles, cases, and developments. They freely allude to “Colgate” and “GTE Sylvania” — meaning something other than toothpaste and televisions — in their everyday conversation. To remain at the top of their trade, they make an effort to stay current on the evolution of antitrust doctrines emanating from the U.S. Supreme Court and the application and…
Read More So You Think You’re Safe Under the Antitrust Laws? A Word of Advice to Those Who Would Ignore the StatesABA Newsletter of the Consumer Protection Committee — Serving The Client And The Public: Lessons From A Former State Assistant Attorney General
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From the Newsletter, Page 3.
Having spent twenty-one years in the service of the public, and the last seven years in the private practice of law, I have taken on the task, perhaps quite presumptuously, of moralizing to two constituencies — my current brethren and my former brethren.
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Read More ABA Newsletter of the Consumer Protection Committee — Serving The Client And The Public: Lessons From A Former State Assistant Attorney GeneralGlobal Merger Control in the New Millennium
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The European Commission’s prohibition of the merger of General Electric Co. and Honeywell Inc. portends a potentially troubling future for the review and approval of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures throughout the world.
The transaction passed antitrust muster in the United States, but it encountered insurmountable opposition at the E.U. From numerous published reports, it appears that the competition methodology utilized by the EU differs…
Read More Global Merger Control in the New MillenniumImportant Notice Re: Changes To The Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Act
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Effective February 1, 2001, the HSR Act will be revised in important respects.
On December 21, 2000, the President signed into law the first significant changes in the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18a, since its enactment in 1976. The Act requires parties intending to merge or make acquisitions of voting securities or assets to provide the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division…
Read More Important Notice Re: Changes To The Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Act