Antitrust

Most antitrust cases are about attempts to raise prices or keep them high. This one is about depressing prices and keeping them low. The complaint alleges that meat packing companies colluded to collapse the price of fed cattle in the market for meat “through coordinated procurement practices and slaughter restraint.”

This class action presents a familiar story: a group of pharmaceutical companies—Janssen Biotech, Inc., Janssen Oncology, Inc., Janssen Research & Development, LLC, and BTG International Limited—unfairly prevented generics of a profitable drug  (Zytiga) from entering the market, thus costing consumers and health insurers more than they should have paid. However, at issue here are not payoffs and illicit agreements but patents and their validity.

The complaint for this class action brings suit against Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS, now NatWest Markets), and other financial companies for an alleged anticompetitive scheme to fix the price of Euro-denominated bonds issued by European central banks and sold in the US. 

This is another antitrust class action against AbbVie and other companies, filed just ten days after the first, for anticompetitive behavior in relation to AbbVie’s drug Humira. The complaint alleges that AbbVie tried to maintain its monopoly on the drug by making illegal arrangements with companies that might have brought out biosimilars, thereby keeping the price of the drug artificially high.

How did realtors manage to band together to take anticompetitive actions? The complaint for this class action alleges that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) banded together with four national real estate broker franchises—HomeServices of America, Inc., Keller Williams Realty, Inc., Realogy Holdings Corp., and Re/Max Holdings, Inc.—to set rules for buyer broker commissions. It claims that the arrangement violates antitrust laws.

Humira is the best-selling drug in the US, which means significant profits for its makers AbbVie, Inc. and AbbVie Biotechnology, Ltd. The complaint for this class action alleges that the companies sought to keep their monopoly on the drug by unfair methods, even after its patent has expired, by bogus patents and deals with would-be competitors. The complaint brings suit under the Sherman Act, and under state laws forbidding pay-for-delay agreements, monopolization, and unfair conduct.

How do you raise prices for a substance in a market with low margins, declining prices, and an oversupply—like the one for caustic soda a few years ago? According to the complaint for this antitrust class action, some makers decided to take concerted, anticompetitive measures, from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the present.

This class action is an antitrust case against Align Technology, Inc. concerning its aligners and scanners used to straighten teeth in dental and orthodontic practices. The complaint alleges that Align has used its aligners and scanners to solidify its hold on both markets and block competitors from succeeding in those markets.

This complaint alleges General Electric and subsidiaries have conspired to block competition for the servicing of GE’s gas anesthesia machines. It brings suit under the Sherman antitrust laws—not on behalf of the those so blocked, but on behalf of those who must pay higher prices to have their machines serviced.