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 […]
Category Archives: Indirect Purchaser Issues
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
Filed Rate Doctrine Bars Challenge to Energy Price Set at Auction
October 11, 2012 – 9:09 am
In Simon v. KeySpan Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs claims on the ground that the filed rate doctrine blocked a consumer class action alleging that KeySpan used a complex financial transaction to overcharge New York City electricity buyers. The filed rate doctrine holds […]
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 […]
ATM Price Fixing Case Dismissed
August 6, 2012 – 3:16 pm
In In re: ATM Fee Antitrust Litigation, the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a long-running class action against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and other banks alleging that ATM interchange fees were the product of an illegal agreement. The court held that bank customer plaintiffs lacked standing to sue for damages because they […]
Most Indirect Purchaser Claims Dismissed in Compressor Antitrust Litigation
June 21, 2012 – 2:48 pm
In In re: Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Michigan Judge Sean F. Cox dismissed many of the indirect purchaser claims in multidistrict litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the market for refrigerant compressors. Indirect purchase claims against Panasonic and Embraco North America Inc., a Whirlpool subsidiary, were retained. After reports of a government […]
Court Certifies Flonase Antitrust Class Action
June 21, 2012 – 1:39 pm
In IBEW-NECA Local 505 Health & Welfare Plan et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Anita Brody certified a class of indirect purchasers of Flonase in five states. In their suit, plaintiffs accuse GlaxoSmithKline PLC of improperly blocking rivals from bringing generic versions of the nasal spray to market by filing multiple “citizen […]
Distributors, Not Hospitals & Clinics, are the Direct Purchasers of Hypodermic Products
June 20, 2012 – 5:12 pm
In In re: Hypodermic Products Antitrust Litigation, the Third Circuit held that the direct purchasers of Becton Dickinson & Co.’s hypodermic products are the company’s distributors and not health care providers. The providers therefore lack standing to pursue federal class action antitrust damages claims against the medical technology company. The court relied on several factors […]
Canada’s Highest Court Decides To Address Indirect Purchaser Class Certification Issue
May 30, 2012 – 8:57 am
In Pro-Sys Consultants Ltd. et al. v. Microsoft Corp. et al., Canada’s highest court granted defendants leave to appeal the decision from a Quebec appeals court that granted class certification to indirect purchasers of dynamic random access memory. This is the third case addressing this issue that is now pending before the Supreme Court of […]
Wellbutrin Class Certification Ruling Upheld
April 29, 2012 – 9:02 pm
In Wellbutrin XL Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Mary A. McLaughlin denied a motion for reconsideration, filed by defendants GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, challenging the court’s earlier class certification ruling. In their suit, a class of indirect purchasers of depression medication Wellbutrin XL, and its generic equivalent, accused GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant […]
Class Certification Denied In Pineapple Sham Patent Suit
March 20, 2012 – 3:50 pm
In Conroy v. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. et al., California First District Court of Appeal upheld the denial of class certification in a case filed by direct and indirect purchasers, accusing Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. of securing a patent for a variety of pineapple that it knew to be unpatentable and subsequently using […]