We handle both civil and criminal antitrust cases, from multidistrict litigation and class actions to investigations by federal and state officials.
Our Antitrust and Competition attorneys also offer strategic guidance on circumventing class actions, securing antitrust clearances, and developing a cogent competition strategy that will hold up in court, at the negotiation table, or before an antitrust agency.
Our group has achieved success for clients through every possible means: through decisive advocacy in court and strategic thinking during appeals, via advantageous settlement, by prevailing on critical pretrial rulings, and by consistently gaining tactical advantages such as narrowing the scope of litigation and limiting potential damages.
We have obtained important victories in precedent-setting cases, including complicated multidistrict litigation with billions of dollars on the line. And when a company’s market share has been threatened by anticompetitive conduct, we have brought suit and obtained significant victories at trial and through multimillion-dollar settlements.
Antitrust Loss Recovery: Helping Clients Seek Recovery for Overcharges
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Class Action and Other Litigation
- We represent an international industrial equipment wholesaler in 19 class actions and one individual action in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey alleging price fixing and monopolization in the sale of ductile iron pipe fittings. The actions have been consolidated into two complaints, consisting separately of direct and indirect purchasers. We scored an early success in the case, securing the dismissal of most of the indirect purchaser claims.
- We served as sole counsel to a major pharmaceutical company in two related antitrust cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania arising out of alleged conspiracy between our client and its promotional partner to bring sham patent litigation against prospective generic manufacturers for an antidepressant drug and file a sham citizen petition, allegedly resulting in the delayed entry of generic versions of the drug. The two cases were brought on behalf of a putative direct purchaser class and putative indirect purchaser class seeking overcharges. We obtained a motion to dismiss the indirect purchaser action in large part, dismissing all but six of the 64 state law claims originally asserted. After three days of hearings, the court granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs' motions for class certification. The court then granted our summary judgment on all but one claim, on which the court deferred decision pending further briefing. The sole claim remaining in the case is whether the settlement of the patent infringement actions violated antitrust laws.
Antitrust Implications of Planned Business Combinations, Acquisitions, and Collaborations
- We advised a large utilities infrastructure company in connection with a now-completed billion-dollar transaction, including responding to informal FTC inquiries.
- We represented a manufacturer of molecular diagnostic tests in connection with a review by the FTC into a proposed merger with a manufacturer of cancer screening tests. After a period of intensive litigation, including extensive responses to second requests, the parties decided not to proceed with the transaction.
Antitrust Counseling on Compliance and Policy Issues
- We serve as antitrust counsel to an innovator of minerals for pharmaceutical and agricultural uses. Ballard Spahr provides ongoing counseling with respect to business transactions, including licensing and distribution agreements.
- We represent a national organization of utilities formed to develop voluntary environmental standards and guidance for the industry supply chain.
