In Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. et al. v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. et al., Southern District of Mississippi Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. has approved a bid by building products manufacturers Georgia-Pacific Co., Weyerhaeuser Co., and Louisiana-Pacific Corp., to dismiss claims of an antitrust conspiracy to fix prices for plywood. The plaintiffs, Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. and […]
Category Archives: Cartel Activity
Title Insurance Price Fixing Cases
August 7, 2009 – 12:21 pm
A series of price fixing cases alleging that title insurers were permitted by regulators fix prices have been meeting with mixed results throughout the country. In Washington, some cases were dismissed. In Pennsylvania, the court held that under the filed rate doctrine the insurers were insulated from damages liability. But the plaintiffs claim for injunctive […]
Transpacific Air Travel Price Fixing MDL Initiated
August 7, 2009 – 11:18 am
Multi-district civil litigation is moving forward in the Northern District of California under the name In re: Transpacific Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation. The recently amended complaint now alleges that nearly 20 airlines participated in a conspiracy to fix transpacific prices from 2004 to 2007. The complaint is said to include extraordinary detail on the lockstep imposition […]
EC Issues Statement of Objection to LCD Suppliers
July 16, 2009 – 4:42 am
The European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections to companies active in the supply of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The Statement, issued in May 2009, related to potential cartel activity with respect to the main component of thin, flat monitors used for example in cell phones, TV, monitors, digital watches and calculators.
Nurse Wage Fixing Case Survives Motion to Dismiss
July 15, 2009 – 2:46 pm
Update July 2009: The court has certified a class of per diem nurses, but refused to certify a separate class of traveling nurses on the ground that their fee arrangements differed significantly more and thus common questions did not predominate. In Jane Doe et al. v. Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association et al., Arizona District […]
EC Imposed First Energy Secter Fines on German & French Pipeline Operators
July 9, 2009 – 4:15 am
The European Commission has fined Germany’s E.ON AG and it subsidiary €553m each and on France’s GDF Suez SA for sharing markets. The parties had agreed in 1975, when they decided to jointly build the MEGAL pipeline to import Russian gas into Germany and France, that they would not sell gas transported over this pipeline in each other’s home markets. They […]
Class Action Challenging Steel Manufacturer Production Cuts Survives Motion to Dismiss
June 16, 2009 – 2:27 pm
In a Northern District of Illinois case, a class of steel purchasers allege that steel producers conspired to cut production in order to support prices. The defendants sought to dismiss the complaint for failing to adequately allege conspiratorial activity. The court held that whether the defendants acted unilaterally or in tandum was a fact question […]
Municipal Derivatives Action Dismissed
June 9, 2009 – 1:28 pm
In In Re: Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation, Southern District of New York Judge Victor Marrero tossed out claims against 34 of the nation’s largest financial institutions accused of fixing prices of municipal derivatives in multidistrict litigation brought by over a dozen municipalities. The Court ruled that plaintiffs did not provide sufficient evidence for their allegations of […]
California Title Insurance Price-Fixing Case Dismissed
May 22, 2009 – 1:59 pm
In Lynn Barton et al. v. Fidelity National Financial Inc. et al., the Northern District of California Judge Jeffrey S. White has dismissed without prejudice, the consolidated class action alleging price-fixing in the California title insurance industry. Guided by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and rejecting plaintiffs’ argument that Twombly’s plausibility standard is […]
RealNetworks Files Antitrust Counter-claim re: DVD Copying
May 22, 2009 – 1:53 pm
In RealNetworks Inc. et al. v. DVD Copy Control Association Inc et al. and Universal City Studios LLP et al. v. Real Networks Inc. et al., RealNetworks filed a counterclaim against the movie studios accusing them of violating the Sherman Act by 1) forming an illegal cartel with fellow defendant, the DVD Copy Control Associaion […]