On July 25, 2022, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleging that poultry processors, Cargill Inc. and Cargill...more
8/3/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Civil Conspiracy ,
Compensation ,
Consent Decrees ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sensitive Business Information ,
Sherman Act ,
Trade Associations ,
Wage and Hour
Avanci’s pool retains its 5th Circuit win, in a slightly different way, after an unusual turn of events where the panel rescinded its prior opinion and issued a new one. The new opinion affirms the district court’s ruling...more
In remarks given last week at the 2022 International Competition Network Conference in Berlin, Germany, FTC Chair Lina Khan gave a keynote address in which she described the “broad and sweeping reassessment” of United States...more
The closely watched government campaign to criminally prosecute labor-related antitrust matters has run into a major roadblock—juries.
Last week, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) was...more
As a part of the new initiative to revise the antitrust merger guidelines, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) announced on March 17, 2022 that the agencies will host...more
The Fifth Circuit recently ratified the right of holders of standard essential patents (“SEP”) to choose where in the supply chain to license SEPs and dealt a blow to the “hold up” narrative advanced by some implementers. In...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published today in the Federal Register increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR...more
As has been expected, on January 18, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced in a joint press conference an initiative to review and revise the...more
The Federal Trade Commission is closing out the year with vigorous enforcement of the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR Act”) by imposing fines totaling nearly $2 million. On December 22, 2021, the...more
The DOJ is requesting public comment on a new draft policy concerning licensing negotiations and remedies for standards-essential patents (SEPs) subject to voluntary F/RAND commitments recently jointly issued by the U.S....more
On December 6 and 7, 2021, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) hosted a virtual workshop to discuss competition issues in labor markets and plans to execute President...more
12/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Mergers ,
OSHA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Wages
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) just announced that they will host a virtual workshop on December 6 and 7, 2021, to discuss the agencies’ efforts to promote...more
A blog post from the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on Tuesday was the latest announcement suggesting that a shake-up is underway for the agency’s merger review process. The post stated that the FTC’s Bureau of Competition...more
On Tuesday, September 21, 2021, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the state attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and...more
Last week was momentous for the Federal Trade Commission. First, the campaign use antitrust to reign in “Big Tech” faced a setback as the United States District Court for District of Columbia dismissed the FTC’s suit against...more
7/13/2021
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Big Tech ,
Competition ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Google ,
Instagram ,
Monopolization ,
Sherman Act ,
Social Media ,
WhatsApp
On July 9th, President Biden issued a broad-based Executive Order “to promote competition in the American economy.” In the White House’s own words...more
On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, an international coalition of competition enforcement agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Offices of State Attorneys General,...more
On April 22, 2021, in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) does not have the authority to seek monetary relief under Section 13(b) of...more
Earlier this week, Stone Canyon Industry Holdings LLC (“Stone Canyon”) and its portfolio company SCIH Salt Holdings Inc. (“SCIH”) reached a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to resolve its...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced yesterday a criminal indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas, Nevada charging a health care staffing company and its former manager of entering into and engaging in...more
4/2/2021
/ Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Indictments ,
No-Poaching ,
Sherman Act ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Wage-Fixing
Last week, Geisinger Health (“Geisinger”) and Evangelical Community Hospital (“Evangelical”) reached a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), resolving the DOJ’s ongoing litigation challenging...more
Back in December, we wrote about a district court ruling rejecting the Federal Trade Comission’s (“FTC”) motion to enjoin the proposed combination of Thomas Jefferson University (“TJU”) and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network...more
On February 18, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the divestiture order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in a private merger challenge brought by...more
The FTC, and antitrust enforcement in general, are having their moment. For example, in early January the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in AMG Capital Management v. Federal Trade Commission, a case questioning the FTC’s...more
2/10/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
AMG Capital Management LLC v FTC ,
Article III ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Process ,
En Banc Review ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
FTCA Section 13(b) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mergers ,
Restitution ,
SCOTUS ,
Seila Law LLC v Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ,
Separation of Powers ,
Standing
Lower jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”), as amended, are scheduled to be published by the Federal Trade Commission...more
2/10/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements