Emily Townsend
Subscribe to Emily Townsend's PostsDOJ Nabs Two More in Real Estate Bid Rigging Conspiracy
By Emily Townsend on Jan 11, 2016
Posted In DOJ Developments
Two real estate investors pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Georgia. The guilty pleas, entered on Monday, January 4, are the 11th and 12th defendants charged in the investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division in its...
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LegalZoom and the North Carolina Bar Settle Antitrust Dispute
By Emily Townsend on Nov 10, 2015
Posted In Healthcare Antitrust
In the latest development from a number of antitrust lawsuits filed against state regulatory boards, LegalZoom.com Inc. signed a consent agreement with the North Carolina State Bar (State Bar) to settle a $10.5 million lawsuit. LegalZoom had alleged multiple violations of federal antitrust laws, including a Section 1 claim that the State Bar had collectively...
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Second Circuit Refuses to Stay Injunction During American Express Appeal
By Emily Townsend on Jun 23, 2015
Posted In DOJ Developments
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected American Express Co.’s request to stay an injunction ordered by a judge in the Eastern District of New York which prevented Amex from imposing certain anti-steering rules on merchants. U.S. et al. v. American Express Co., et al., Case No. 15-1672. In 2010,...
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Supreme Court Finds No Pre-emption in Natural Gas Act Case
By Emily Townsend on May 1, 2015
Posted In Energy/Commodities, Private Litigation
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in ONEOK Inc. v. Learjet, Inc., that the Natural Gas Act (NGA) does not pre-empt state-law antitrust suits over manipulation of natural gas indices. The court’s decision has important ramifications for natural gas regulation and the regulation of the energy industry more broadly. In ONEOK, a group of direct-sales...
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Seventh Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Text Messaging Price-Fixing Claims
By Emily Townsend on Apr 16, 2015
Posted In Cartel Enforcement, Private Litigation
On Thursday, April 9, 2015, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for AT&T Mobility LLC, Verizon Wireless LLC, T-Mobile USA Inc. and Sprint Corp., in a text messaging price-fixing litigation. In re Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation, case number 14-2301. Plaintiffs alleged that these wireless telephone providers and a trade association...
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Third Circuit Remands Class Certification Ruling in Blood Reagents Price-Fixing Case
By Emily Townsend on Apr 15, 2015
Posted In Cartel Enforcement, Private Litigation
On Wednesday, April 8, 2015, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a district court’s order certifying a class of direct purchasers of blood reagents in a price-fixing suit against Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Inc. In re Blood Reagents, case number 12-4067. Plaintiffs allege that Ortho-Clinical Diagnostic Inc. (Ortho) and a producer of blood reagents, violated Section...
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FTC Consent Agreement with Par Petroleum Demonstrates Increased Agency Focus on Competitive Effects
By Emily Townsend on Mar 29, 2015
Posted In FTC Developments, Joint Ventures/Competitor Collaboration, Mergers & Acquisitions
On March 18, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered Par Petroleum Corporation to terminate its storage and throughput rights at a key gasoline terminal in Hawaii. This action will settle FTC charges seeking to prevent Par’s acquisition of Koko’oha Investments, Inc. Notably, the market structure created as a result of this remedy mirrors a...
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FTC Merger Review Likely to Incorporate Analysis of Privacy Issues
By Emily Townsend on Mar 3, 2015
Posted In Consumer Protection/Privacy, FTC Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or the Commission), along with the U.S. Department of Justice, can challenge mergers it believes will result in a substantial lessening of competition – for example through higher prices, lower quality or reduced rates of innovation. Although the analysis of whether a transaction may be anticompetitive typically focuses on price,...
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Federal Court Finds Amex’s “Anti-Steering” Merchant Rules Anticompetitive
By Emily Townsend on Feb 27, 2015
Posted In DOJ Developments, Monopolization/Abuse of Dominance
After a seven-week bench trial in an enforcement action by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and 17 state attorneys general, U.S. District Judge Garaufis (Eastern District of New York) held that American Express Co.’s (Amex’s) “anti-steering” rules (Non-Discrimination Provisions or NDPs) are an unreasonable restraint of trade in violation of Section 1 of the...
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New Joint Protocol of the Italian Competition Authority and the Italian Tax Police
By Emily Townsend on Feb 20, 2015
Posted In Italian Developments
The Italian Competition Authority and the Italian Tax Police (Guardia di Finanza) signed a new Joint Protocol, which provides increased mutual exchange of information and closer cooperation in the context of investigations for alleged breach of antitrust, unfair commercial practices and misleading advertising rules. The new Joint Protocol also sets out specific means of collaboration...
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