West Penn Allegheny Health Systems filed suit in Western Pennsylvania District Court, against Pittsburgh’s dominant hospital system, UPMC, and Highmark Inc., the city’s dominant health insurer, accusing both defendants of violating Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, by conspiring to monopolize and an attempting to monopolize Pittsburgh’s healthcare market. According to the complaint, since at […]
Category Archives: US Federal Courts
Criminal Big Rigging Case Filed Against Refuse Cart Repair Company Executives
April 27, 2009 – 2:39 pm
In U.S. v. Steven Fenzl and Douglas Ritter, a Northern Disctrict of Illinois grand jury indicted two executives from an Illinois garbage cart repair company on charges of conspiracy, mail fraid and wire fraud for conspiring to rig the city of Chicago’s competitive bidding process that enlists private companies to fix roll-out refuse carts. DOJ […]
Settlement of MMA & Acrylic Cartel Litigation
April 27, 2009 – 2:22 pm
In In re: Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) Antitrust Litigation, plaintiffs filed a motion with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Court seeking approval of four separate settlement agreements totalling $15.1 million to settle a long-running class action against four chemical companies. The suit sought damages and injunctive relief against the defendants for an alleged conspiacy to jack up the prices […]
Liquid Crystal Display Screen Producers Plead Guilty to Price Fixing
April 26, 2009 – 7:52 pm
Update April 2009: An LG executive has agreed to plead guilty, serve a 1 year prison sentence, and pay a $30,000 fine for his role in the LCD cartel. Update March 2009: Hitachi has agreed to pay a $31 million fine and cooperate in the investigation. LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes all pled guilty […]
Third Circuit Discusses Class Certification
April 23, 2009 – 6:32 pm
Update April 2009: The plaintiffs have proposed settlements with all defendants. Interestingly, one defendant settled for zero dollars with a pledge to help the plaintiff secure settlements against the other defendants. In In re: Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litigation, the Third Circuit remanded a decision certifying the class, instructing the district court to conduct a more […]
Tomato Packer Alleges Vertical Price Fixing by Can Manufacturer
April 23, 2009 – 6:05 pm
In Stanislaus Food Products Co. v. USS-Posco Industries, tomato packer Stanislaus Food Products Co., accused steelmaker USS-Posco Industries (UPI) of engaging in a vertical price fixing scheme with Silgan – a can manufacturer, to restrain the steel and tin trade. The complaint filed in the Northern District of California alleges that 1) Silgan, who is not named in […]
Court Certifies Twombly Question for Immediate Appeal
April 14, 2009 – 1:53 pm
In March 2009, Judge Christopher Connor, M.D. P.A., denied defendants’ motion to dismiss price fixing allegations against leading chocolate makers. The court held that the complaint sufficient alleged a conspiracy under Twombly. Defendants requested that the court certify the question for appeal. The court has now agreed to do so, explaining that its conclusion that Twombly […]
DRAM Price Manipulation Case Survives Summary Judgment
April 12, 2009 – 5:56 pm
In Sun Microsystems Inc. v. Hynx Semiconductor Inc. et al., Northern District of California Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment, allowing the case of price manipulation of dynamic random access memory to go forward on the plaintiff’s Sherman Act claims. In their summary judgment motion defendants argued that plaintiff did not show that Hynx’s […]
Carb Gas Cartel Plaintiffs Prevail in 9th Circuit
April 12, 2009 – 5:52 pm
In William O. Gilley Enterprises Inc. et al. v. Atlantic Richfield Co. et al., a divided 9th Circuit panel found that plaintiffs’ argument – that 44 individual bilateral agreements among the oil companies had the same aggregate anti-competitive effect as a conspiracy – was enough to establish a claim under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. […]
Capper-Volstead Act Does Not Shield Mushroom Cooperative With Non-grower Member
April 12, 2009 – 5:50 pm
In In re: Mushroom Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Thomas N. O’Neill denied a summary judgment motion filed by defendants, who were members of the Eastern Mushroom Marketing Cooperative Inc. Defendants’ motion claimed that as a cooperative, they were shielded from Sherman Act liability by the Capper-Volstead Act. The Court rejected defendants’ argument […]