Antitrust

We have earned a sterling reputation as one of the most widely respected plaintiffs’ antitrust practices in the country. Our Antitrust practice is recognized for its expertise in complex litigation challenging price-fixing, market allocation, and other anticompetitive behavior. Our clients include pension funds, businesses, and individuals. Our class action experience spans numerous industries, including agriculture, automotive parts, chemicals, financial services, health care, high tech, media and entertainment, pharmaceuticals, and many others.

We gladly take on – and defeat – formidable opponents, which have included such giants as Dow Chemical, Apple, and Google.

Our attorneys have helped shape the antitrust landscape. They come from diverse backgrounds; many have served as judicial law clerks. Some have served in the Department of Justice and other governmental agencies while others have experience litigating for the defense and bring special insight into the strategies of opposing counsel. We are also skilled at navigating industry-specific economics and up-to-date on e-discovery, which increasingly shapes the strategy, development, and management of complex litigation.

MAKING AN IMPACT

We have recovered billions of dollars in damages for injured plaintiffs as lead or co-lead counsel in some of the nation’s most complex cases. 

We achieved a record-setting recovery as co-lead counsel In re Urethane Antitrust Litigation, a price-fixing class action.  After settling with several defendants for $139 million, we went to trial against The Dow Chemical Company and obtained a $400 million jury verdict.  After offsetting the prior settlements and trebling as provided for by statute, the court entered judgment against Dow for $1.06 billion dollars.  The case against Dow ultimately settled for $835 million while Dow’s petition for certiorari was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Including the Dow settlement, we recovered a total of $974 million for the class – nearly 250% of the damages found by the jury. The jury verdict was the largest price-fixing verdict in the history of the United States, and the largest jury verdict in the country in 2013.  

Cohen Milstein was also co-lead counsel in the Electronic Books Antitrust Litigation, which alleged that Apple and five of the six biggest publishers in the U.S. conspired to raise the price of e-books.  We litigated together with the Department of Justice and Attorneys General from 33 states and territories.  The case culminated in a settlement of $560 million, including a settlement of $450 million with Apple shortly before trial.  

Currently, our we have a leading role in, among other cases:

• A series of “pay-for-delay” cases involving allegations that the manufacturers of “branded” pharmaceuticals entered into non-competition agreements with generic pharmaceutical companies to delay the offering of generic versions of their drugs to the public;
• A case alleging that the major animation studios conspired to suppress the pay of special effects and animation workers;
• A case alleging price-fixing by the major manufacturers of drywall in the United States;
• A case alleging that Google violated the Wiretap Act when its Street View vehicles collected payload data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, including the home networks of individuals;
• A case against the largest hospital chain in Northern California challenging various actions that restrain competition and increase prices for health care services;
• A case on behalf of the City of San Francisco alleging that American Express unlawfully overcharged California merchants;
• A case alleging that Zuffa, LLC (commonly known as the “UFC”) unlawfully monopolized mixed martial arts fighting markets and depressed the pay of its fighters; and
• Price-fixing and monopolization class actions against the largest manufacturers of ductile iron and soil-iron pipe fittings.

RECOGNITION

We have received numerous accolades for our work, including:

• American Lawyer Media and The National Trial Lawyers’ Antitrust Law Firm of the Year
• The Legal 500’s Leading Plaintiff Class Action Antitrust Firm
• The National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers - Antitrust
• Law 360’s Competition Practice Group of the Year