Chocolate
Practice Area: AntitrustIn re Chocolate Confectionary Antitrust Litigation, 08-MDL-1935 (M.D. Pa.)
In a March 4, 2009 decision, the court in In re Chocolate Confectionary Antitrust Litigation denied certain defendants’ motion to dismiss, allowing the plaintiffs’ case alleging a price-fixing conspiracy among the nation's largest chocolate companies to continue. Among other motions, the defendants moved to dismiss the direct purchaser plaintiffs’ consolidated complaint, asserting that the plaintiffs had failed to allege a conspiracy that stated a plausible antitrust claim. The court denied the motion with respect to most of the defendants, holding that Plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged an antitrust conspiracy under the plausibility standard the Supreme Court articulated in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007). The court deferred ruling on certain foreign defendants’ motions to dismiss, pending jurisdictional discovery. Cohen Milstein serves on the Executive Committee representing direct purchaser plaintiffs in this matter.