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The landmark U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general monopoly cases against Google will likely need nearly three years to reach trial, which themselves are expected to last several months and might be consolidated, the parties and the D.C. federal judge revealed during a telephone status conference Friday.
Two consumer groups suing Tyson Foods in long-running multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing in the broiler chicken industry told an Illinois federal judge Tuesday they have reached settlements with the poultry giant.
The U.S. Department of Justice has told the Eleventh Circuit that a recently passed law preventing health insurance companies from claiming immunity from antitrust allegations supports Oscar Insurance's suit challenging Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida's exclusivity rules.
The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official, Makan Delrahim, offered a laundry list of potential legislative reforms just hours ahead of his departure from the agency on Tuesday, including calling for the creation of a rulemaking board for digital markets.
The tenure of Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph J. Simons, who announced his departure from the agency Tuesday, was marked by active FTC enforcement, and his successor is likely to be even more aggressive, antitrust professionals told Law360.
Charter Communications officially withdrew its petition seeking to end conditions imposed by the Federal Communications Commission when the cable giant merged with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in a Friday letter.
A retirement fund leading a proposed class action accusing drugmaker Endo International of artificially inflating its stock price is fighting to remain as the lead plaintiff and urged a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday to reject competing bids to replace the fund.
Tronox Holdings PLC on Monday said it would drop the planned $300 million takeover of TiZir Titanium and Iron from Eramet SA in the wake of British competition enforcers' plan to refer the deal for in-depth investigation.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission has collected enough data on female and minority control of broadcast stations to justify its repeated attempts to relax TV and radio station ownership rules. However, the justices also appeared open to claims that ending the limits could protect broadcasters from losing ground to cable and online media.
A former Federal Trade Commission lawyer who has spent decades in private practice has joined Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP's litigation practice as a Washington, D.C., partner.
A Minnesota federal judge has refused to throw out a proposed class action that accuses drugmaker Mylan Inc. of paying bribes and kickbacks to a group of pharmacy benefit managers and conspiring to engage in anti-competitive practices that jacked up the price of its anti-allergy injection EpiPen.
A proposed class of Android smartphone users urged a California magistrate judge Tuesday to keep alive claims that Google illegally harvests data to gain an advantage over rivals like TikTok, with the users arguing that Google's "broad" data-collections disclosures are insufficient, and "consent is not an all or nothing proposition."
A Brooklyn federal judge has rejected "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli's newest plea to be released early from his seven-year prison sentence, saying the controversial former pharmaceutical executive hasn't shown how his mental health supposedly weakens his immune system and heightens his risk from the coronavirus.
Amazon has been hit with another proposed class action, this time accusing it of scheming with five book publishers on price restraints that resulted in consumers paying "supracompetitive prices" for e-books not purchased on Amazon's website.
U.S. antitrust enforcement may be due for a shot in the arm as Joe Biden takes office, backed by Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress and led by lawmakers who have vowed to increase funding for competition enforcement and push other reforms.
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph J. Simons announced Tuesday he will step down from the agency's top post on Jan. 29, paving the way for a new, Democratic FTC majority under the Biden administration.
A BT customer has hit the U.K. telecommunications giant with a proposed class action on behalf of more than two million elderly landline users who were allegedly overcharged by £600 million ($813 million) over almost a decade, his lawyers said on Monday.
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk Inc. on Friday joined a slew of other pharmaceutical companies challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' view that drugmakers must give discounts to pharmacies contracting with hospitals that serve low-income areas.
California wants a suit challenging its landmark worker classification law dumped without leave to amend, telling a federal court that the statute doesn't bump up against federal law and the lawsuit's preemption argument "presents a false choice."
The Federal Trade Commission's chances for hanging on to its power to seek restitution for victims of consumer scams and antitrust violations in federal court look grim if sharp questions from several justices during Supreme Court arguments this past week are any indication, legal observers say.
The Justice Department's top antitrust enforcer, Makan Delrahim, has been sticking song references in the titles of his policy speeches throughout his tenure, most recently announcing a decision about music licensing groups in remarks titled "And the Beat Goes On." Here, Law360 takes a look at the songs Delrahim has cited ahead of his expected departure from the agency Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court will wade into a more than two-decade-old dispute over media ownership rules on Tuesday and at long last attempt to address the Federal Communications Commission's contrasting obligations to promote both competition and diversity among radio and TV station owners and to eliminate unnecessary constraints on who can hold broadcast properties.
Amazon was hit Thursday with a proposed class action accusing the tech giant of putting a "stranglehold" on the e-book business by scheming with book publishers on price restraints that caused customers to overpay for digital books if they didn't shop on Amazon's website.
The Federal Trade Commission is demanding data from some of the country's largest health insurers to help it examine the effects of "physician group and health care facility consolidation," the agency announced Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Justice will leave in place a pair of court orders that have governed music licensing groups BMI and ASCAP for nearly 80 years, saying Friday that there isn't enough consensus to change or kill them right now.
General Electric Co. on Thursday accused Siemens Energy Inc. of using its trade secrets to fix highly sought-after gas turbine contracts, telling a Virginia federal court that Siemens partly exploited the confidential information to secure contracts to augment its September initial public offering.
U.S. technology companies are facing a mountain of antitrust litigation heading into 2021, as enforcers push blockbuster monopolization cases against Google and Facebook. Meanwhile, long-running criminal probes in the generic drug and poultry industries are heating up. Here’s a look at the biggest antitrust conduct cases to watch.
Blockbuster monopolization lawsuits against Facebook and Google won't be the only antitrust cases to watch in 2021. Merger challenges will also draw a lot of attention, including the Justice Department's suit contesting a massive alleged "killer acquisition" and the Federal Trade Commission's attempt to find renewed success in blocking hospital transactions.
Over a dozen state-level enforcers lost their challenge of T-Mobile's merger with Sprint, the Federal Trade Commission suffered major appellate losses in its case against Qualcomm and in a generic drug case, and a private plaintiff scored a big win against Comcast in circuit court.
No U.S. law firm has its shares listed on a public stock exchange unlike some lucrative overseas counterparts, but by allowing nonattorneys to become stakeholders in law firms, Arizona may have paved the way for this to change should other U.S. states — particularly New York — follow suit, says Marc Lieberman at Kutak Rock.
Although justices asked difficult questions of both sides at the recent U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in AMG v. Federal Trade Commission, they expressed significant skepticism of the FTC's implicit authority to seek restitution and disgorgement of the proceeds of fraud and other misconduct, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.
A look back at 2020 antitrust cases shows why economic evidence is likely to remain a key element in merger-enforcement litigation, despite the occasional anomaly, says Julie Elmer at Freshfields.
Some recent litigation developments demonstrate efforts by law firms and their clients to search for opportunities in the COVID-19 economic fallout, while others — such as the rise of contingency fee arrangements — reflect acceleration of tendencies that were already underway, says William Weisman at Therium Capital.
In the face of rising client demands due to the pandemic and the changing regulatory environment, and with remote work continuing for the foreseeable future, lawyers should invest in their well-being by establishing inspiring yet realistic goals for 2021 — one month at a time, says Krista Larson at Morgan Lewis.
"Confidential" and other search terms commonly used to locate privileged documents during e-discovery are pretty ineffective, so practitioners should consider including specific types of keywords that are demonstrably better at targeting privilege, say Robert Keeling at Sidley and Rishi Chhatwal at AT&T.
A review of state attorney general actions in 2020 addressing consumer concerns including data privacy, product safety and marketplace competition can help companies prepare for the expected regulatory enforcement wave in 2021, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
Opinion
Democracies should implement a law of the digital sea that can balance innovation with individual rights and national security by mandating personal ownership of data, rigorously enforcing antitrust law, and empowering agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to grade cyberhygiene, says Luke Schleusener at QOMPLX.
Lawyers working remotely during the pandemic while physically outside the jurisdictions in which they are licensed will find some comfort in a recent American Bar Association opinion sanctioning such practice, but there is ambiguity regarding the contours of what's allowed, say attorneys at Harris Wiltshire.
Whether geared toward a global audience or a particular client, a law firm's articles, blog posts and client alerts should strive to be original by harnessing a few editorial tools and following the right distribution sequence, say Steven Andersen and Tal Donahue at Infinite Global.
Derek Adams at Potomac Law, and Ellen London and Steven Deolus at Alto Litigation, examine the evolution of the Paycheck Protection Program, the impact of constant changes to eligibility and reporting rules, and enforcement developments to expect this year.
Perspectives
Judges should take into consideration the several points of law enforcement and prosecutorial discretion — from traffic stops to charging decisions and sentencing recommendations — that often lead to race-based disparate treatment before a criminal defendant even reaches the courthouse, say Judge Juan Villaseñor and Laurel Quinto at Colorado's Eighth Judicial District Court.
Lawyers should remember that the basics of interpersonal relationships have not changed despite the completely virtual environment caused by the pandemic, and should leverage the new year as an excuse to connect with clients in several ways, say Megan Senese and Courtney Hudson at Pillsbury.
Companies must prepare to navigate a storm of antitrust forces on the horizon, with the potential for more aggressive antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration, including agency focus on acquisitions of nascent competitors, the life sciences industry and monetary remedies, say attorneys at Cooley.
Although the U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in MasterCard v. Merricks removes some certification barriers for collective actions, aspects of the court's opinion may provide comfort for defendants, say Louise Freeman and Harry Denlegh-Maxwell at Covington.