Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section

Welcome to the June E-Briefs, News and Notes. We have included a new section, Other Notable Cases, where we flag additional judicial opinions but instead of a full E-Brief, we have a short summary describing the main antitrust/unfair competition issue in the case so that you may read the opinion if it is relevant to your practice. This issue also has three panel summaries from the May 2022 Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section of the California Lawyers Association Golden State… Read more

Welcome to the May 2022 E-briefs, News and Notes. Read more

The Antitrust Division has been aggressively investigating collusive wage-fixing and no-poach agreements in labor markets and bringing criminal cases when they believe a “naked” (not ancillary to a procompetitive agreement) agreement has been uncovered. The Antitrust Division recently suffered two consecutive setbacks in its initial labor market collusion jury trials. On April 14, 2022, a Texas federal jury returned not guilty verdicts Read more

On March 29, 2022, the Judge Rogers from the Northern District of California denied Consumer Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification without prejudice and then granted in part and denied in part Apple’s Daubert motion to exclude expert testimony. As a refresher given the amount of on-going Apple litigation, this specific Apple litigation relates to Consumer Plaintiffs’ claims that Apple charges developers on the App Store supracompetitive commissions, which are then passed to consumers in the form of increased prices for app downloads or subscriptions. Order Denying Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification Without Prejudice, In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation, case no. 11-cv-6714-YGR (March 29, 2022 N.D. Cal.). Read more

On April 8, 2022, in an en banc decision, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the certification of classes of direct purchasers in the canned tuna antitrust litigation, effectively rejecting the argument that a class cannot be certified with more than a de minimis number of uninjured class members. See Olean Wholesale Grocery Coop., Inc. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, No. 19-56514 (9th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022)(en banc). The Ninth Circuit’s en banc opinion follows an earlier panel decision, which had vacated the district court’s class certification orders. Read more

In In re Zetia Ezetimibe Antitrust Litig., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69566 (E.D. Va. 2022), the Eastern District of Virginia followed guidance from the Fourth Circuit on remand and denied a class of 35 Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs’ (“DPPs”) renewed motion for class certification on the sole issue of numerosity. The court’s analysis here highlights the various, challenging hurdles 20-40 person proposed classes face during class certification. With the rise of the Direct Action Plaintiffs in recent years, small classes with big claimants are likely going to be even harder to certify as increasing numbers of potential class members opt out. Read more

Join us on May 5 in San Francisco for the Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute. Read more

Welcome to the April E-briefs, News and Notes.  We have 7 E-Briefs covering a variety of subjects.  The Agency Update section includes links to numerous DOJ/FTC press releases reflecting the aggressive posture of the Biden Administration on competition policy. Read more

Join us for the Fifth Annual Celebrating Women in Competition Law in California on March 10, 2022 in San Francisco! We can't wait to see you. Read more

Welcome to the March 2022 E-briefs, News and Notes. This edition includes E-Briefs, authored by Thomas H. Burt and Betsy C. Manifold, Kerry C. Klein, Anthony Léon and Sean Kolkey. Read more