Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On February 22, 2011, Judge Andrew J. Guilford of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied the Federal Trade Commission's (“FTC”) motion for a preliminary injunction and also dissolved the temporary restraining order that had been in place since mid-December. The district court ruled that the FTC had not shown that…

On February 24, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission put into effect the revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires premerger notification for certain large transactions. Federal law requires that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice be notified of mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions of a certain size prior to…

On December 14, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with Pittsburgh-based L.B. Foster Co. to divest a West Virginia plant used in development, manufacture and sale of certain railroad joints to Koppers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc., in order to proceed with Foster's acquisition of Portec Rail Products…

On December 6, 2010, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a class action appeal in the Wal-Mart Stores employment discrimination case, one claiming that the company discriminated against a huge number of current and former Wal-Mart women employees in both pay and promotion. This is the biggest employment discrimination case in U.S. history and seeks…

On January 6, 2011 the Federal Trade Commission challenged the consummated acquisition of rival St. Luke's Hospital (“St. Luke's”) in Lucas County, Ohio by ProMedica Health System, Inc. (“ProMedica”). In an administrative complaint, the FTC alleges that the deal will reduce competition and allow ProMedica to raise prices for general acute-care and inpatient obstetrical services,…

The European Union recently published new revised rules regarding the assessment of horizontal cooperation agreements (i.e. agreements concluded between competitors). These new modifications primarily concern issues of standardization, information exchange, and research and development (“R&D”). Now, businesses operating in the EU may better assess their compliance with EU antitrust law to avoid penalties and litigation.…

On December 1, 2010, in a 4-1 vote, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) authorized the filing of an administrative complaint, alleging that Laboratory Corporation of America's (“LabCorp”) consummated acquisition of Westcliff Medical Laboratories (“Westcliff”) would harm competition in Southern California. In his dissenting statement, Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch criticized the definition of the relevant product…

On October 28, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the State of Minnesota, Plaintiffs to the FTC v. Lundbeck, Inc. and Minnesota v. Lundbeck, Inc. filed a Joint Notice of Appeal at the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, from the August 31, 2010 judgment denying an injunction against Lundbeck's 2006…

On October 18, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Michigan Attorney General challenged Blue Cross Blue Shield (“BCBS”) of Michigan in a civil antitrust action. The complaint alleges that “most-favored nation” (“MFN”) clauses in BCBS contracts with Michigan hospitals raises health-care costs for Michigan residents and employers and excludes other insurers from…