In Stewart et al. v. Gogo Inc., Northern District of California Judge Edward M. Chen denied Gogo Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action, alleging that Gogo’s unfair long-term contracts with airlines created a monopoly. Plaintiffs allege Gogo carved out a dominant industry position to the detriment of consumers and the wider market space […]
Category Archives: US Federal Courts
Court Denies Class Certification In Pharmaceutical Pay-For Delay MDL
January 31, 2014 – 5:45 pm
In In re: Skelaxin (Metaxalone) Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Tennessee Court Judge Curtis L. Collier denied class certifications to two groups claiming Pfizer Inc.’s King Pharmaceuticals Inc. settled a patent dispute with a deal to keep muscle relaxant Skelaxin off the market in a pay-for-delay arrangement that kept the drug prices at brand-name levels. […]
Court Orders Insurer to Reimburse Hospital for Antitrust Case Settlement
January 27, 2014 – 10:26 pm
In William Beaumont Hospital v. Federal Insurance Co., Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Federal Insurance Co. to reimburse WilliamBeaumontHospital 80 percent of an $11.3 million settlement with nurses who alleged wage suppression in an antitrust class action. The court found that failing to hand over wages is different from illicitly acquiring wages. As a […]
Court Imposes the Longest-Ever Antitrust Violation Prison Sentence for Ocean-Shipping Price-Fixing
December 20, 2013 – 10:46 pm
In U.S. v. Frank Peake, District of Puerto Rico Judge Daniel Dominguez sentenced Sea Star Line LLC’s former president, Frank Peake, to five years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to manipulate the ocean-shipping company’s prices. According to the prosecutors, Sea Star, Peake and his unnamed co-conspirators schemed to inflate the rates and […]
Second Circuit Reverses Executives’ Municipal Bond Bid-Rigging Convictions
December 20, 2013 – 10:29 pm
In U.S. v. Grimm et al., Second Circuit Court of Appeals explained its earlier decision to reverse the municipal bond bid-rigging convictions of three former General Electric Co. officials. The three former GE executives were accused of paying kickbacks to brokers as part of a scheme that cheated cities and towns out of funds for […]
Court Orders Disclosure of Separate Criminal Case Documents in Antitrust MDL
December 19, 2013 – 2:52 pm
In In Re: Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Panasonic Corp. to hand over documents used in a separate grand jury investigation that led Panasonic subsidiary Sanyo Electronics Co. Ltd. to plead guilty to antitrust charges and pay $10.7 million. The present case is a multidistrict price-fixing suit, […]
Court Approves AMR – US Airways Merger
December 19, 2013 – 2:25 pm
In Carolyn Fjord et al. v. AMR Corp. et al., Southern District of New York Judge Loretta A. Preska affirmed a bankruptcy judge’s decision to allow a merger between American Airlines and U.S. Airways to move forward. In their suit, a group of customers claimed that the merger would drive prices up and service down […]
Court Dismisses Monopoly Claims in Online Travel Content Antitrust Suit
December 6, 2013 – 3:02 pm
In Pro Search Plus, LLC v. VFM Leonardo, Inc., Central District of California Judge Josephine Staton dismissed some of the monopoly claims brought by online booking company Pro Search Plus against Canadian rival VFM Leonardo Inc. Pro Search claims that VFM violated the Sherman Act, Lanham Act, and the Copyright Act when it allegedly engaged […]
Court Denies Summary Judgment In Nexium Antitrust MDL
December 2, 2013 – 3:14 pm
In In re: Nexium (Esomeprazole) Products Liability Litigation, Massachusetts District Court Judge William G. Young denied AstraZeneca PLC and Ranbaxy Inc.’s motion for partial summary judgment in multidistrict litigation alleging the companies violated antitrust laws by agreeing to delay entry of a generic version of AstraZeneca’s heartburn drug Nexium. In their motion, defendants argued that […]
Airlines Agree to Divest Assets To Settle DOJ Merger Suit
November 13, 2013 – 6:17 pm
In U.S. v. U.S. Airways Group Inc. et al., in order to settle the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust suit attempting to block the merger between U.S. Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines, the airlines have agreed to divest a number of departure gates and 138 takeoff and landing slots at seven key airports. Under […]