The Second Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action alleging price fixing among title insurers. The plaintiffs alleged that the insurers manipulated the states-rate setting process to include agency commissions in their insurance rates. Relying on the filed rate doctrine, the Second Circuit held that the state regulators were sufficiently active to […]
Category Archives: Cartel Activity
EC Investigates Freight Forwarding Industry
February 10, 2010 – 10:40 am
The European Commission issued a Statement of Objections to air freight forwarding companies concerning their alleged participation in price-fixing cartels. These companies transport goods and provide related services such as customs clearance, warehousing and ground services. The companies involved were not identified.
EC Investigating Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems Industry
February 3, 2010 – 5:05 pm
The European Commission confirmed has inspected the premises of producers of Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS). This equipment is used to increase the power transfer capability of electricity transmission networks. The EC is concerned about possible cartel activities. The specific parties involved have not been disclosed.
Urethane MDL Plaintiffs Order to Produce Data
February 2, 2010 – 11:42 am
District of Kansas Magistrate Judge James O’Hara ordered the plaintiffs in the urethane multi-district litigation to produce data about their sales that had been requested by the defendants. The judge agreed with defendants that the information was necessary to allow the defendants to respond to the conspiracy allegations by showing that the plaintiffs own information […]
Second Circuit Addresses Twombly Standard in Reviving Digital Music Conspiracy Suit
February 2, 2010 – 11:15 am
The Second Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of a case alleging that major record companies had conspired to increase the price of digital music distributed on CDs and over the Internet. The trial court had found the allegations of conspiracy insufficient under the Twombly standard. The Second Circuit reversed, explaining that “[t]he present complain […]
EC Investigates Shipping Industry Practice with Respect to Feeder Vessels
January 20, 2010 – 10:40 am
The European Commission is formally investigating a shipping industry practice know as the “Baltic Max Feeder” scheme in which European ship owners collectively agree to cover the costs of removing feeder vessels from service. The EC may believe that the scheme reduces capacity and thus increases charter rates for these ships.
DVD Application Antitrust Suit Dismissed for Lack of Injury
January 14, 2010 – 10:01 am
In RealNetworks Inc. et al. v. DVD Copy Control Association Inc. et al., Northern District of California Judge Marilyn Hall Patel tossed RealNetworks Inc.’s claims that several movie studios ran afoul of U.S. antitrust law by conspiring to block the company’s DVD-copying application in favor of their own product. The judge found that RealNetworks lacked […]
Price-Fixing Suit Against DSM Rubber Units To Move Forward
January 7, 2010 – 12:03 pm
In In re: Ethylene Propylene, District of Connecticut Judge Stefan R. Underhill refused to dismiss antitrust allegations against two subsidiaries of multinational manufacturing company Royal DSM NV, alleging that the defendants fixed the price of ethylene propylene diene monomer synthetic rubber used in the auto and roofing industries. The Court rejected the defendants’ contentions that […]
EC Pursues Banana Cartel
January 5, 2010 – 6:01 pm
The European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections to a number of companies that import and marketing bananas. The objections relate to the companies alleged participation in a cartel.
Banks Settling Cardholder Arbitration Antitrust Case
January 5, 2010 – 5:57 pm
In multi-district litigation centered in the Southern District of New York, Capital One has joined Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, and HSBC in settling a case alleging that the card issuing banks agreed to require cardholders to agree to arbitrate any disputes and to prohibit class actions. The settlements agree not to enforce arbitration provisions […]