Update October 2010: Six international freight forwarding companies have agreed to pay criminal fines in the U.S. case totaling $50.3 million. Update July 2010:Northwest Airlines, now part of Delta, has plead guilty and agreed to pay a $38 million fine and assist in the on-going investigation. Delta stressed that the illegal conduct occurred before it […]
Category Archives: Cartel Activity
Conspiracy to Inflate Auto Insurance Rates Not Exempt From Challenge
September 30, 2010 – 10:44 am
Update September 2010: The Ninth Circuit has denied rehearing. The Ninth Circuit has reversed the dismissal of a putative class action alleging that major auto insurers conspired to use inferior repair parts while telling their customers that they were providing premium repair service that would return cars to “pre-loss” condition. As a result of the conspiracy, […]
EC Investigates Paper Envelope Manufacturers
September 15, 2010 – 9:01 am
The EC has inspected the premises of seven paper envelope manufacturers in Denmark, France, and Spain. The Commission is investigating possible price fixing and customer division agreements. The names of the targets were not released.
Class Action Alleges Price Fixing in the Sale of Optical Disc Drives
August 31, 2010 – 3:17 pm
Classes of direct and indirect purchasers have filed suit in the Northern District of California alleging that optical disc drive manufacturers have violated the antitrust laws. The complaint alleges that the defendants agreed to charge higher prices and rig electronic auctions to ensure that the certain price floors were maintained.
Drug Wholesalers Claim Dismissed for Lack of Evidence of Market Power or Conspiracy
August 31, 2010 – 12:10 pm
Update August 2010: The Second Circuit has affirmed this decision. In RxUSA Wholesale Inc. v. Alcon Laboratories Inc. et al., Eastern District of New York Judge Denis R. Hurley has dismissed a $2.3 billion antitrust lawsuit accusing 16 pharmaceutical manufacturers and a group of drug distributors of conspiring to keep RxUSA Wholesale Inc., a secondary […]
Blood Reagent Price-Fixing MDL Moves Forward
August 27, 2010 – 4:03 pm
E.D. PA Judge Jan Dubois denied defendant Immucor Inc. & Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Inc. motion to dismiss on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed to sufficiently allege an agreement. The judge cited the close timing of the defenants’ price increases for blood reagent; their cancellations of contracts with group purchasers; and […]
NCAA Standard for Lacrosse Stickhead Design Not Anticompetitive
August 27, 2010 – 3:54 pm
The Sixth Circuit has upheld the dismissal on the pleadings of lacrosse stick manufacturer Warrior Sports’s complaint alleging that the NCAA violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by agreeing with Warrior’s competitors to adopt a new rule that prohibited the use of all of the stick models currently sold by Warrior. After meeting with […]
Insurance Conspiracy Case Partially Dismissed
August 19, 2010 – 2:20 pm
The Third Circuit dismissed a major portion of the Insurance Brokers’ Antitrust Litigationon the ground that the complaint fails to adequately allege an a horizontal agreement among insurers. Although the plaintiffs alleged agreements between particular insurers and brokers, the insurers had sufficient incentive to enter those vertical agreements even if the insurers had not agreed […]
New York Court Holds that State May Challenge Home Appraisal Conspiracy
August 19, 2010 – 1:52 pm
A New York state appellate court has held that the state may challenge on antitrust grounds alleged collusion between First America Corp. and Washington Mutual. The defendants had argued that the state challenge was preempted by federal regulation. The court held that the regulation does not extend to collusion relating to appraisals.
California Travel & Tourism Board Dismissed From Rental Car Conspiracy Case
August 19, 2010 – 1:47 pm
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the California Tourism Board from a suit alleging anticompetitive agreements by rental car companies to set ancillary fees. Plaintiffs alleged that after a new law placed an assessment on rental car companies to help fund the tourism board, the state board conspired with the rental car companies to […]