In Ohio Carpenters’ Pension Fund v. Deutsche Bank AG, no. 22-cv-10462-ER (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 26, 2024), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed an antitrust class action alleging a conspiracy between Deutsche Bank and Rabobank to manipulate prices of European government bonds. Plaintiffs, certain U.S.-based pension funds, alleged that the defendants manipulated the prices they offered to investors to buy or sell EGBs in order to widen the resulting “bid-ask spread” between those prices and increase their profits. Continue Reading Post-Class Period Statistics Alone Cannot Demonstrate Parallel Conduct in Antitrust Action, SDNY Holds
Competition Law
Game Stopped: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Meme Stock Antitrust Lawsuit
By Ayana Lindsey & Brandon Gould on
In January 2021 Short Squeeze Trading Litigation (No. 22-11873), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by retail investors alleging that Robinhood, a zero-fee stock brokerage platform, conspired with Citadel Securities, a high-frequency trading firm and short-seller, to block trading in “meme stocks” like GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Although the investors alleged that prices fell in the meme stocks they owned, the court held that those losses were not “anticompetitive effects” arising in the relevant antitrust markets the investors pleaded in their complaint.Continue Reading Game Stopped: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Meme Stock Antitrust Lawsuit
No Dice: Nevada Court Dismisses with Prejudice Algorithmic Price Fixing Theories in Vegas Hotels Case
By August Gweon & Brandon Gould on
On May 8, a Nevada federal court dismissed with prejudice a class action complaint alleging that several Las Vegas hotel operators violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by agreeing to set hotel room prices using pricing algorithms from the same vendor. The decision, Gibson v. Cendyn Group, No. 2:23-cv-00140 (D. Nev. 2024), follows the court’s October 24, 2023, dismissal of plaintiffs’ original complaint, which rejected plaintiffs’ allegations of a per se unlawful price-fixing conspiracy but granted leave to amend based on a Rule of Reason theory. Continue Reading No Dice: Nevada Court Dismisses with Prejudice Algorithmic Price Fixing Theories in Vegas Hotels Case
Court Denies Class Certification in Antitrust Case Based on Expert’s Reliance on Unsupported Assumptions in Damages Model
By Eli Nachmany & Brandon Gould on
The Northern District of Illinois recently denied certification to several proposed classes of purchasers of a seizure drug called Acthar in City of Rockford v. Mallinckrodt ARD, Inc., No. 3:17-cv-50107, 2024 WL 1363544 (Mar. 29, 2024). Class plaintiffs had alleged that defendant Express Scripts, a drug distributor, conspired with Mallinckrodt, a drug manufacturer, to raise the price of Acthar through an exclusive distribution arrangement. In denying certification to the damages classes, the court determined that plaintiffs had not met Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance standard because they lacked a reliable economic model showing that damages were “capable of measurement on a classwide basis,” as required by Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 569 U.S. 27, 34 (2013).Continue Reading Court Denies Class Certification in Antitrust Case Based on Expert’s Reliance on Unsupported Assumptions in Damages Model
UK Opt-Out Class Actions for Non-Competition Claims back on Parliamentary Agenda
By Louise Freeman, Sinead McLaughlin & Alan Kenny on
Opt-out collective actions (i.e. US-style class actions) can only be brought in the UK as competition law claims. Periodic proposals to legislate to expand this regime to consumer law claims have so far faltered. However, this is now back on the Parliamentary agenda. Several members of the House of Lords have indicated their support for expanding the regime to allow consumers and small businesses to bring opt-out collective actions for breaches of consumer law, and potentially on other bases.
If implemented, this expansion would be very significant and would allow for many new types of class actions in the UK. Tech companies are already prime targets as defendants to competition-related opt-out class actions. An expansion of the regime to allow actions for breaches of consumer law, as well as competition law, would only increase their exposure further.
As there is now limited time for legislation to be passed to effect such changes before the UK Parliament is dissolved in advance of an upcoming general election, this may be an issue for the next Parliament. It will therefore be important to assess what the UK’s main parties say on this – and any manifesto commitments – in the run-up to the election.Continue Reading UK Opt-Out Class Actions for Non-Competition Claims back on Parliamentary Agenda