Antitrust in the News

Over the last several months I have heard several presentations by Richard Powers, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice, addressing the protocol of interactions between counsel representing parties and the staff at the Antitrust Division. Read more

The Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint and authorized a federal court lawsuit to block Illumina’s $7.1 billion proposed acquisition of GRAIL, Inc. Read more

In a recent order, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo of the San Francisco Superior Court granted a motion for preliminary approval of Sutter Health’s $575 million settlement in the long-standing antitrust class action intended by the UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust (UEBT) and the State of California, UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health, et al., Case No. CSG 14-538451 (Cal. Sup. Ct. San Francisco. Read more

Read the March 2021 e-briefs here. Read more

On Dec. 23, 2020, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (the “Act”), finally became law. The legislation had passed in the Senate several times previously but until this last Congress, had never been brought up for a vote in the House. The Act prohibits employers from retaliating against certain individuals who report criminal antitrust violations. It allows an individual to file a retaliation complaint with the Secretary of Labor it they are retaliated against for reporting to the federal government information about what they believe to be criminal violation of the antitrust laws. Read more

Read the January 2021 e-briefs here. Read more

Thank you for reading this month’s edition of E-briefs, News and Notes by the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association. You will notice that we have added “News and Notes” to the title and included several new features. We hope the new information is helpful. We welcome any feedback on how to make the publication more useful. Read more

This edition of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association’s E-Briefs includes a recap of the 30th Annual Golden State Institute which was held as a virtual conference on October 27-29, 2020. The program co-chairs were Elizabeth Castillo, (Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy) and Rob McNary, (Crowell & Moring). The program had 6 panels and two networking sessions and was attended by over 300 attorneys, law students and economists. Read more

Ready, Set, Action. The latest episode of the Flagship antitrust saga has been released this month! A three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal, Second District in Los Angeles, reversed the $3.5 million judgment awarded to Flagship Theatres of Palm Desert, LLC (Flagship) against Cinemark USA, Inc. and its subsidiary Century Theatres, Inc. (collectively, Century). (Flagship Theatres of Palm Desert LLC v. Century Theatres Inc. et al. (2020), case B292609 and B299014 (Flagship)) Read more

When selecting lead class counsel in complex class action cases, Rule 23(g)(1)(A) of the Fed Rules of Civ. P. states that the court must consider, among other factors, “counsel’s experience in handling class actions,” “knowledge of applicable law” and ”the resources that counsel will commit to representing the class.” Read more