In Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital v. Washington State Department of Health et al., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff hospital’s challenge to Washington state’s restrictions on the number of hospitals that can perform elective angioplasties. The complaint alleged that the practices were anticompetitive and discriminatory, […]
Category Archives: State Action Immunity
Bar on Non-Dentists Offering Teeth Whiting Not Immune from Antitrust Challenge
July 12, 2013 – 4:15 pm
In North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected the North Carolina dental board’s assertion of state action immunity for cease-and-desist letters that it sent to non-dentists providing teeth-whitening services. The court held that the state did not sufficiently supervise the ban. […]
FTC Gets Another Chance to Challenge $195 Million Hospital Merger
May 13, 2013 – 3:39 pm
In Federal Trade Commission v. Phoebe Putney Health Systems inc. et al., the Eleventh Circuit granted Federal Trade Commission’s motion to remand its challenge of Phoebe Putney Health System Inc.’s $195 million acquisition of a nearby rival, back to the district court, to decide whether to stop the hospitals from further integrating their operations. In […]
Denial of State Action Exemption is Not an Immediately Appealable Collateral Order
February 11, 2013 – 10:33 am
In Auraria Student Housing v. Campus Village Apartments LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a private party may not immediately appeal a district court’s denial of an argument that the state-action doctrine exempts the defendant’s conduct from antitrust scrutiny. Auraria Student Housing sued its competitor in the Denver housing […]
Antitrust Challenge Filed Against Drug Discount Abuse Scheme
December 7, 2012 – 5:36 pm
In The Vaccine Center LLC v. GlaxoSmithKline LLC et al., a Nevada clinic has sued in the District of Nevada alleging that GlaxoSmithKline LLC, nonprofit Apexus Inc., and a public health agency conspired to violate the antitrust laws by abusing a federal drug-discount program. The plaintiffs claim that the Southern Nevada Health District abuses its nonprofit […]
Supreme Court Will Address Antitrust State Action Exemption
October 24, 2012 – 8:28 am
The state action exemption to the federal antitrust laws holds that governments do not violate the antitrust laws, firms do. State laws with anticompetitive impacts thus do not run afoul of federal law when they restrain trade even though the same conduct by private actors would violate the law. The exemption is entirely judge-made and […]
Court Overturns Jury Verdict and Dismisses Cleaning Antitrust Suit
September 20, 2012 – 2:16 pm
In United National Maintenance Inc. v. San Diego Convention Center Corp. Inc., Southern District of California Judge dismissed a suit accusing San Diego Convention Center (SDC) of monopolizing cleaning services during trade shows and interfering with a janitorial vendor’s contract. The dispute began after the SDC enacted a policy requiring all cleaning services at trade […]
US Supreme Court Grants Cert. to Resolve State Action and Class Action Disputes
July 2, 2012 – 4:40 pm
In the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) prosecution of the Phoebe Putney Health System Inc. merger, the U.S. Supreme Court will clarify the degree of specificity that state lawmakers must use in adopting an anticompetitive state regulation in order to secure an exemption from the federal antitrust laws. The Eleventh Circuit upheld Phoebe Putney’s $195 million […]
Airport Services Anttirust Case Rejected
April 3, 2012 – 11:27 am
Judge Richard P. Matsch granted summary judgment to Montrose County rejecting JetAway’s allegation that the county acted anticompetitively in awarding rival Jet Center Partners LLC a contract to operate the county’s small airport. The plaintiff alleged the count engaged in bid rigging by awarding the contract before issuing the RFP. But the court held that […]
Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal Antitrust Challenge to the States’ Tobacco Settlement
March 2, 2012 – 3:56 pm
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a defunct tobacco manufacturer’s antitrust lawsuit against the 1998 master settlement agreement between states and tobacco companies. The plaintiff, Vibo Corp. dba General Tobacco, claimed that the other tobacco companies’ successfully lobbied the state attorneys general to block General Tobacco from amending its settlement […]