Update June 2011: The court denied the plaintiff’s motion to reconsider its decision. Southern District of NY Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that Plaintiff, Charles Simon, lacked standing to sue electric power supplier KeySpan and Morgan Stanley for allegedly manipulating the price of power sold to Simon’s utility, Con Edison. KeySpan paid $12 million to settle […]
Category Archives: Antitrust Division Action
DOJ Sues to Block On-line Tax Preparation Software Merger
June 1, 2011 – 9:58 am
The Antitrust Division has sued to block H&R Block’s acquisition of TaxACT, an on-line software provider. H&R and TaxACT are the number 2 and 3 providers of on-line tax prep software behind Intuit’s TurboTax. The Division explained that it uncovered H&R Block documents indicating that the purpose of the merger was to eliminate a competitor […]
DOJ Sues to Block POS Card Reader Merger
June 1, 2011 – 9:16 am
The Antitrust Division has sued to block of merger of VeriFone and Hypercom, manufacturers of point of sale credit and debit card reader. The two U.S. companies currently compete with French-based Ingenico in what is essentially a three competitor market. The Division alleges that the 3-2 merger would raise prices for retailers purchasing POS card […]
DOJ Sues to Undo Sale of Chicken Processing Plant
June 1, 2011 – 9:02 am
The Antitrust Division sued George’s Inc. seeking to undo its $3 million purchase of a chicken processing plant in the Shenandoah Valley from Tyson Foods. The transaction fell below the reporting thresholds and thus was consummated with antitrust agency review. The Division alleges that the plant sale will leave George’s with 43% of the chicken market and only one competitor […]
DOJ and Texas Hospital Propose Antitrust Settlement
May 9, 2011 – 4:00 pm
A Northern District of Texas court received a proposed settlement between the Department of Justice and a Texas hospital that was accused of monopolizing the hospital services market by preventing insurers from working with competitors. United Regional Health Care System of Wichita Falls, Texas, controlled hospital services in the area and was allegedly able to charge […]
DOJ Settles Antitrust Disgorgement Case
April 15, 2011 – 1:19 pm
Southern District of New York Judge William H. Pauley III approved a $12 million profit disgorgement antitrust settlement between KeySpan Corp. and the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ alleged that KeySpan kept electricity prices artificially high in New York City by obtaining a financial stake in one of its competitors. Its financial stake in […]
DOJ to Investigate Google Book Deal
April 1, 2011 – 3:08 pm
Update March 2011: Southern District of NY Judge Denny Chin rejected a class action settlement between plaintiff publishers and Google that would have permitted Google to publish orphan works on an opt out basis. The Department of Justice and potential competitors such as Microsoft and Amazon argued that the settlement would allow Google to monopolize […]
Antitrust Claims Dismissed Against Realtor Association
February 17, 2011 – 10:26 am
Southern District of Georgia Judge Randell Hall dismissed with prejudice a Real-estate broker’s suit alleging that the Greater Augusta Association of Realtors Inc. (GAAR) violated the Sherman Act by adopting rules that discriminated against agents who operated solely online. Separately, Keller alleged that the rules violated a consent judgment in an earlier case. There the […]
DOJ Indicts Ex-Florida West Vice-President and Others for Price-Fixing in Air Transportation Industry
January 17, 2011 – 10:35 am
The Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, indicted Ex-Florida West Vice President Rodrigo Hernan Hidalgo, Luis Agusto Afanador, and Jaime Rueda Sr. in the Southern District of Flordia for conspiracy to restrain trade under the Sherman Act. The conspiracy operated in early 2002, allegedly fixing the prices of peak season fuel and security surcharges for cargo […]
EU and DOJ Investigating an Alledged Refrigeration Cartel+Class Action Filed
October 17, 2010 – 4:58 pm
Update October 2010: Panasonic ($49.1 million) and Whirlpool (a subsidiary of Embraco North America) ($91.8 million) have agreed to pay criminal fines in the U.S. case. The investigation is on-going. Update March 2009: An appliance company has filed a putative class action on behalf of appliance sellers against Whirlpool, Tecumseh, and Panasonic, three compressor manufacturers that believed to […]