In In re: Chocolate Confectionary Antitrust Litigation, Middle District of Pennsylvania Judge Christopher C. Conner, certified a class of direct chocolate purchasers in price-fixing multidistrict litigation against Nestle USA Inc., The Hershey Co., and Mars Inc. Despite limited guidance from the Third Circuit on the level of evidence required to determine whether the testimony of […]
Category Archives: Class Certification
Court Certifies Class of Direct Purchasers in Chocolate Price-Fixing Suit
December 27, 2012 – 3:51 pm
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Credit Card Companies May Require Merchants to Waive Class Action Rights in Arbitration Agreements
December 21, 2012 – 3:09 pm
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to decide “whether the Federal Arbitration Act [FAA] permits courts, invoking the ‘federal substantive law of arbitrability,’ to invalidate arbitration agreements on the ground that they do not permit class arbitration of a federal-law claim.” The case involves a credit card company’s adoption of an arbitration requirement compelling […]
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide the Standard for the Required Pre-certification Showing that Damages May Be Calculated on a Class-wide Basis
December 10, 2012 – 9:22 am
In Comcast Corp. et al. v. Caroline Behrend et al., the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the standard that plaintiffs must satisfy to meet the Court’s requirement that, prior to certifying a class, the district court must find that admissible evidence supports the view that damages can be calculated on a class-wide basis. The plaintiffs […]
Settlement of Visa/MasterCard Merchant Fee Case Preliminarily Approved Over Class Member Opposition
December 9, 2012 – 11:42 am
In In re: Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of New York Judge John Gleeson preliminarily approved a $7.25 billion settlement in multi-district litigation alleging that the credit card companies collusively set the fees that they charge merchants to accept cards. Judge John Gleeson explained that class action settlements must […]
Hospital Lacks Standing To Seek Damages in a Challenge to a Tying Arrangment Because It Purchased the Bundle Indirectly
October 22, 2012 – 10:24 am
In Lakeland Regional Medical Center Inc. v. Astellas Pharma US Inc. et al., Middle District of Florida Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington held that a Florida hospital lacked standing to sue for damages, allegedly totally $867 million, in an antitrust class action accusing Astellas Pharma of using a patented testing process to restrain competition in […]
Tentative Settlement in Comcast Monpolization Class Action Not Enforceable; Supreme Court Review to Move Forward
October 12, 2012 – 4:38 pm
In Behrend et al. v. Comcast Corp. et al., Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge John R. Padova refused to compel Comcast to follow through on a settlement to which the parties had tentatively agreement before the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review a class certification issue in Comcast Corp. et al. v. Caroline Behrend […]
Class Alleges Price Fixing on Hotel Accommodations by Travel Reservation Websites
September 17, 2012 – 9:39 am
A class of plaintiffs have filed an antitrust action in the Northern District of California captioned Turik et al. v. Expedia Inc. et al., and alleging that online travel reservation firms and hotels have conspired to fix prices for hotel accommodations. The complaint alleges that the so-called “price-match guarantee” is really a means to fix […]
Court Certifies Purchaser Class in Blood Reagent Antitrust Suit
August 31, 2012 – 1:24 pm
In In re: Blood Reagents Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Jan E. DuBois certified a class of direct purchasers in an antitrust action alleging that through a series of meetings and communications, Johnson & Johnson unit, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Inc., conspired with Immucor Inc. to fix prices on reagents used in blood tests. The […]
Tenth Circuit Upholds a Denial of Nationwide Class Certification in a Cable Set-Top Box Antitrust Suit
August 20, 2012 – 9:51 am
In Gelder et al. v. CoxCom Inc. et al., Tenth Circuit denied a motion to appeal a denial of a nationwide class certification, requested by customers of Cox Communications Inc. in an antitrust suit, accusing Cox of illegally tying set-top boxes to its cable services. In their suit, the customers claimed that Cox violated the […]
Claims Dismissed in Refrigerant Compressor Price Fixing Case
August 16, 2012 – 12:58 pm
In Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Michigan Judge Sean F. Cox dismissed several state antitrust indirect purchaser claims in multidistrict litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the refrigerant compressor market. The court found that indirect purchase plaintiffs must have lived in or suffered an injury in a state to bring indirect purchaser claims […]