Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On May 16, 2008, in a unanimous opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a 2006 Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) decision that found the North Texas Specialty Physicians (“NTSP”), based in Fort Worth, TX, participated in horizontal price fixing activities. The Court found that the FTC’s decision was correct and there…

On May 15, 2008, Durwanda Elizabeth Morgan Heinrich, a dirt, sand, and gravel subcontractor, and Kern Carver Bernard Wilson, a former contract employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were each charged with one count of conspiring to commit bribery. Additionally, Heinrich was charged with two counts of offering a bribe to a public…

On May 8, 2008, Bruce McCaffrey, Quantas Airways’ Vice President of Freight for the Americas, pled guilty and agreed to serve eight months in jail as well as pay a criminal fine of $20,000 for his role in a conspiracy to fix rates for international cargo shipments. Mr. McCaffrey was the highest ranking Quantas Airways…

On May 6, 2008 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) modified its previous order in 2000 prohibiting Nine West Group, Inc. from fixing retail prices with dealers. The FTC modified the order by granting Nine West permission to engage in resale price maintenance (RPM) with a caveat that the company would have to provide periodic reports…

On May 5, 2008, in 4-0 vote, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement that allowed Agrium, Inc. to buy UAP Holding Corporation (“UAP”) for $2.5 billion, making UAP a wholly owned subsidiary of Agrium. Agrium is required to sell five UAP farm stores in Michigan and two Agrium stores in Maryland…

On May 2, 2008, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against the Consolidated Multiple Listing Services (“CMLS”) of Columbia, SC. The lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court in Columbia, SC, alleges that the CMLS’s rules regarding who can be a member and how those brokers must conduct their business stifles…

On April 29, 2008, the DOJ required the divestiture of assets of Regal Cinema (“Regal”) and Consolidated Theatres Holding GP (“Consolidated”) in three metropolitan areas in North Carolina in order for the $210 million merger between the companies to proceed. The DOJ believes that the transaction would have resulted in less competition and higher ticket…

On April 28, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its final order and opinion enabling the lost competition between Chicago-based Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corporation (“ENH”) and Highland Park Hospital. In October 2005, an administrative law judge ruled that ENH’s acquisition of Highland Park Hospital was anticompetitive and violated federal antitrust law. In August 2007,…

On April 28, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement with TALX Corporation regarding its acquisitions of various unemployment compensation management (“UCM”) and verification of income and employment (“VOIE”) services. UCM consists of administering, on behalf of large, multi-state employers, unemployment compensation claims filed with a state or territory. VOIE consists…

On April 24, 2008, Leonard Douglas “Doug” LaDuron, a former owner of three Kansas computer service companies (Serious ISP Inc., Myco Technologies Inc. and Elephantine Corporation), and his mother, Mary Jo LaDuron (a.k.a. Mary Jo Gault) pled guilty to conspiracy charges to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program. The E-Rate Program was authorized…