The FTC has settled claims with two physicians groups that were alleged to have threatened on behalf of groups of physicians to refuse to deal with certain insurance companies unless they raised their fees paid to doctors.
Category Archives: Cartel Activity
Court Dismisses Proposed Class Action Against Chinese Magnesite Exporters
January 12, 2009 – 4:48 pm
Judge Garret Brown, US District Court for the District of NJ, dismissed price fixing allegations on the ground that the complaint failed to adequately allege a conspiracy or the requisite direct effect on the US market under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act. The court left open the possibility of an amendment.
EU Inspects Smart Card Chip Manufacturers
January 12, 2009 – 4:42 pm
On January 7, 2009, the EC confirmed that it had inspected the premises of several smart card chip producers. These chips are used for the production of smart cards, such as telephone SIM cards, bank cards and identity cards, and the companies inspected may have engaged in price fixing, customer allocation and the exchange of commercially-sensitive information.
Class Action Filed Against Grocery Wholesalers
January 6, 2009 – 4:39 pm
Seeking to represent a class of grocers, D&G Inc. has sued Supervalue, Inc. and C&S Wholesale Grocers alleging an agreement to divide customers and territories to the detriment of retail grocers in response to C&S’s plans to enter the Wisconsin market and compete with Supervalue. The case, D&G Inc. v. Supervalue, Inc. has been filed in the […]
Aluminum Conspiracy to Go to Trial
January 4, 2009 – 3:47 pm
In Champagne Metals v. Ken-Mac Metals, Judge Joe Heaton, US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, has found that the plaintiffs have presented sufficient evidence of a conspiracy among aluminum suppliers and mills to justify use of the co-conspiratory hearsay exception. The case alleges that the nations largest aluminum distributors conspired to pressure […]
Conspiracy Case Against Private Equity Firms May Go Forward
January 4, 2009 – 3:07 pm
A class action, Kirk Dahl et al v. Bain Capital Partners, filed against major private equity firms, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, alleges that the companies conspired to lower the prices of private equity deals. The defendants moved to dismiss on two grounds: 1) that the claim was a disguished securities claim pre-empted by the […]
EC Raids Pharmaceutical Companies
December 30, 2008 – 2:04 pm
The European Commission has reportedly raided the offices of pharmaceutical companies suspected of breaching EU competition rules by operating a cartel or abusing market position. Without identifying the companies, the Commission said only that the inspections had taken place in “several” EU Member States. The raids took place ahead of the publication of a 400-page Commission report […]
EU Power Transformer Investigation
December 11, 2008 – 12:04 pm
On December 11, the EC acknolwedged that it had issued a Statement of Objections to multiple, but unnamed, power transformers producers, concerning their alleged participation in a cartel.
Leading EU Auto Glass Producers Fined for Cartel Behavior
December 1, 2008 – 7:57 pm
The European Commission recently fined auto glass producers — Asahi, Pilkington, Saint-Bogain, and Soliver — with over 90% of the market for engaging in a market sharing cartel from 1998-2003.
Court Dimisses Per Se Challenge to Staples/HP Printer Ink Deal
December 1, 2008 – 6:19 pm
A class action complaint alleged that the Staples/HP deal in which Staples agreed to stop selling its own ink for HP printers and instead to promote the HP band of ink constituted a per se illegal horizontal agreement not to compete. Apparently intending to reach the appellate level quickly, the plaintiffs alleged only a per […]