By Bryan Koenig

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation held that dentists pursuing five new lawsuits against Delta Dental and its network cannot avoid the Illinois federal court MDL accusing the insurance giant of anticompetitively carving up markets and driving down reimbursements.

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DC Circ. Probes NewsGuard Over Harm From FTC Orders

By Matthew Perlman

A D.C. Circuit panel probed an attorney for NewsGuard on Tuesday about the kind of harm a Federal Trade Commission investigation and merger settlement in the advertising industry caused the news ratings group.

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Clifford Chance Taps An Ex-DOJ Antitrust Leader In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Clifford Chance LLP has hired a former Justice Department attorney, who recently worked as the assistant chief of the Antitrust Division's media, entertainment and communications section, the firm announced Tuesday.

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Nortera Drops Green Giant Deal After Challenge From Canada

By Matthew Perlman

Nortera Foods said Tuesday it abandoned its planned purchase of the Green Giant and Le Sieur brands in Canada from B&G Foods Inc., after the country's competition enforcer challenged the deal over concerns about higher prices for canned and frozen vegetables.

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Google Accused Of Restricting App Market At £1B Trial

By Ronan Barnard

Google faced a collective action claim alleging it abused its dominance in the Android app market and seeking over £1 billion in damages at the start of a London antitrust tribunal trial Tuesday.

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Brief

EU Extends Deadline To Review Papermakers' €1.4B JV Plan

By Irene Madongo

The European Commission has an extra month to decide whether the planned €1.42 billion ($1.6 billion) joint venture between paper manufacturers UPM-Kymmene and Sappi could harm competition in markets for paper used in magazines and books.

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Groq Investors Sue Over Nvidia's $20B 'Reverse Acqui-Hire'

By Jarek Rutz

Two former Groq Inc. stockholders have sued the artificial intelligence chip company's directors and a former officer, alleging in a Delaware Chancery Court complaint that they improperly handed Groq's technology and engineering workforce to Nvidia Corp. through a roughly $20 billion reverse acqui-hire without a stockholder vote or a process aimed at getting the best price.

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Vail Resort Board Sued For Alleged Ski Price Antitrust Lapses

By Sydney Price

Executives and directors of ski resort operator Vail Resorts Inc. were hit with a shareholder's derivative suit accusing them of damaging the company by allowing it to participate in a horizontal price-fixing scheme with competitors, exposing it to antitrust litigation from customers.

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Fla. Fishermen Reach Deal In Crustacean Price-Fixing Suit

By David Minsky

A group of commercial fishermen reached a deal with a Miami seafood wholesaler to resolve antitrust violations in Florida federal court, agreeing to a settlement in exchange for dropping proposed class claims that the company conspired to widen profit margins by artificially suppressing crab claw and spiny lobster tail prices.

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Pension Funds Lead Securities Suit Over Zillow, Redfin Deal

By Isaac Monterose

A Washington federal judge has appointed two pension funds as lead plaintiffs in a proposed securities class action filed over an allegedly anticompetitive Zillow Group Inc. and Redfin Corp. deal and has also appointed Keller Rohrback LLP and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP as local and lead counsel, respectively.

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NCAA Urges Colo. Judge To Dismiss 5th-Year Eligibility Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The NCAA asked a Colorado federal judge on Monday to toss a proposed class action brought by former Division II and Division III college athletes seeking a fifth season of competition eligibility, arguing they failed to assert plausible antitrust or breach of contract claims.

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Mass. Bar Official Says Ex-Atty's Suit Should Be Tossed

By Andrea Keckley

After a New York federal judge threw out the federal claims against her from a permanently disbarred attorney's due process suit, a Massachusetts bar official told the court it should dismiss what she calls a "meritless" case instead of sending it to Boston.

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Neurosurgeon Group Says It Fixed Anthem Unit Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A Long Island neurosurgery practice told a New York federal judge that it has provided all the details the court found missing when it tossed a previous complaint accusing an Anthem unit of anticompetitively driving down reimbursement rates.

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Rental Fintech Co. Says Rival Is Operating Unlawful Scheme

By Hope Patti

A fintech company that provides rent and security deposit insurance products accused a competitor of flouting insurance regulations, paying unlawful kickbacks to clients and misrepresenting the nature and legality of its products, telling a Georgia federal court that it has lost business because of the rival company's practices.

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Roundup

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Monopoly Suit Setback, Historic Deal

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court rounded the corner into fall with a setback for residents in an antitrust class action, a historic settlement in "forever chemical" contamination litigation and a raft of new restrictive covenant complaints.

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Contact Lens Rule's Evolution Steers FTC Guidance Program

The history of the Federal Trade Commission's Contact Lens Rule illustrates the goals of the FTC's recently announced guidance program, which aims to strengthen consumer protection and safeguard competition, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

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Omni Bridgeway Raises $1B For New Litigation Funding

By Ryan Boysen

Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway has raised a new $1 billion fund from mostly repeat investors, with plans to deploy the money broadly across countries and case types while avoiding debt leverage.

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Alito Explains Recusal But Says It Shouldn't Become Practice

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said this week he "reluctantly" recused himself from a dispute that could decide whether state and local government can sue Big Oil in state courts for damages related to greenhouse gas emissions, while suggesting the high court's members shouldn't make a practice of explaining their reasons for stepping away from cases.

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Justices' Docs Should Belong To Public, Gov't Watchdogs Say

By Jack Karp

Nearly two dozen government accountability groups are calling for Congress to enact a law that would make U.S. Supreme Court justices' papers government property that would someday be available to the public.

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Analysis

Uncertainty Surrounds Judge Newman's 11th Circ. Transfer

By Dani Kass

Chief Justice John Roberts' order to transfer the Federal Circuit Judicial Council's disability investigation of a suspended 99-year-old judge to another court offers the neutral evaluation the judge has long been asking for, but attorneys are concerned about the transparency of the proceeding.

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California Federal Judge Jeffrey White To Retire After 24 Years

By Bonnie Eslinger

Senior U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White will retire at the end of the year after nearly a quarter-century on the federal bench in Northern California.

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ABA Accreditor Leader Remembered For Passion And Intellect

By Emma Cueto

After her sudden death while leading the American Bar Association council that handles law school accreditation, Melissa Hart is being remembered as a passionate and fiercely intelligent jurist, mentor and leader who will be missed as the council navigates numerous challenges to its accreditor status.

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