competition

Last month in In re: Keurig Green Mountain Single-Serve Coffee Antitrust Litigation, the Southern District of New York denied certification to a proposed class of direct purchasers who alleged that Keurig, a manufacturer of branded coffee pods and brewers, violated antitrust laws by allegedly suppressing competition from generic coffee pod manufacturers.  Although the plaintiffs offered statistical evidence suggesting that Keurig’s coffee pod prices were elevated on average, the court held that individual issues of antitrust impact predominated over common questions because Keurig directly negotiated prices with large buyers that might fully offset any increase in average prices.Continue Reading Aggregate Damages Model, List Prices Insufficient to Demonstrate Classwide Antitrust Injury, Says Federal District Court

In Lutz v. HomeServices of America, Inc. et al., No. 4:24-cv-10040-KMM, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed antitrust claims brought by a proposed class of homebuyers seeking to enjoin implementation of rules promulgated by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) relating to commissions paid to real estate brokers representing homebuyers.Continue Reading Court Finds Homebuyers Lack Antitrust Standing to Challenge Real Estate Brokerage Commission Rules

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently dismissed a horizontal antitrust conspiracy claim brought by a proposed class of homebuyers against a real estate brokerage company, while allowing the homebuyers’ claims based upon vertical agreements to continue.  Continue Reading Court Dismisses Homebuyers’ Trade Association Horizontal Conspiracy Claim

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently dismissed an antitrust class action brought by yacht sellers against yacht brokers, brokerage trade associations, and multiple listing services for preowned yachts.  In Ya Mon Expeditions LLC v. International Yacht Brokers Association Inc., 1:24-cv-20805, the yacht sellers alleged that yacht brokers conspired through trade associations to fix uniform brokerage commissions on preowned yacht sales and exclude from yacht listing services sellers who were not represented by licensed brokers.Continue Reading Court Takes Wind Out of the Sails of Yacht Sellers’ Antitrust Suit

On September 30, a New Jersey federal court dismissed with prejudice an antitrust class action complaint alleging that several Atlantic City hotel operators engaged in a per se illegal “hub-and-spoke” price-fixing conspiracy through their use of software algorithms to set room rental rates.  Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, No. 1:23-CV-02536 (D.N.J.).

According to the court, class plaintiffs’ allegations concerning Atlantic City hoteliers suffered from the “same factual deficiencies identified” by a Nevada federal court in Gibson v. Cendyn Group, No. 2:23-cv-00140 (D. Nev.), which rejected price-fixing allegations arising from Las Vegas hotels’ use of the same software.  The court concluded that, in both cases, plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege the existence of unlawful agreements between the hotels at the “rim” of the alleged “hub-and-spoke” price-fixing conspiracy for several reasons.Continue Reading New Jersey Court Dismisses Software Price-Fixing Claims Against Atlantic City Casinos