Antitrust and Consumer Protection
Competition: Fall 2014, Vol. 23, No. 2
Content
- "All Natural" Class Actions: a Plaintiff Perspective
- Appellate Courts Grapple With the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act—Plaintiffs' Perspective
- Cafa: Recent Developments On the Jurisdictional and Settlement Fronts
- Chair's Column
- Defense Perspective: "All Natural" Class Actions
- Editor's Note
- Federal and State Class Antitrust Actions Should Not Be Tried In a Single Trial
- Ftc V. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, Et Al. and the Ftc's Authority To Regulate Companies' Data Security Practices
- Joint Trial of Direct and Indirect Purchaser Claims
- Masthead
- Plaintiff Perspective: the Long Arm of State Antitrust Law
- So Your Suppliers Conspired Against You: An Antitrust Class Action Opt-out Primer
- The Ftaia Limits the Extraterritorial Reach of State Antitrust Laws
- The Misapplication of Associated General Contractors To Cartwright Act Claims
- The Problem of Duplicative Recovery Under Federal and State Antitrust Law
- Why Associated General Contractors Should Be Used To Assess Standing In Cartwright Act Cases
- Recoveries For Violations of Federal and California Antitrust Statutes Should Not Be Apportioned
RECOVERIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL AND CALIFORNIA ANTITRUST STATUTES SHOULD NOT BE APPORTIONED
By Steve Williams and Elizabeth Tran1
There is increased cartel behavior today, affecting more businesses and people, than at any time since the enactment of state antitrust laws and the Sherman Act. Private enforcement of the antitrust laws was established to protect the economy from collusion. It was for this reason that quasi-criminal fines were included as remedies available to private plaintiffs, such as double — and then treble — damages as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.
The Sherman Act has been called a "charter of freedom"2 and the "Magna Carta of free enterprise"3 and described as a
Congress passed the Sherman Act to protect consumers from inflated prices, foster free competition in the marketplace, and encourage efficient behavior by firms.5