Antitrust

Increased enforcement (and broader interpretation) of antitrust and competition laws by state and federal agencies has brought unprecedented scrutiny on business practices that were once thought to be par for the course. As a result, many companies will likely face antitrust litigation in the near future.

Government and Private Antitrust Litigation

Governmental agencies are using subpoenas, civil investigative demands, and voluntary requests for information at an increasing rate to aid in their enforcement activities. We represent targets of governmental investigations, and non-target witnesses, industry members, customers and competitors. We are called upon to not only negotiate compliance issues, but also to represent our clients in administrative and judicial antitrust enforcement actions.

There has also been an explosion in recent years of the anti-trust claims by private litigants. Claims of price fixing, refusal to deal, actual or attempted monopolization, price discrimination, or other alleged violations of federal and state antitrust laws are now routinely asserted by both plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement, high tech, financial services, and other types of commercial litigation. Such claims are often brought in high stakes class action litigation.

A Comprehensive Approach

We are also cognizant of the public relations and legislative aspects of antitrust representation, and the need to manage our clients’ public image during litigation. We also work with legislatures in support of legislation beneficial to the client and industries we serve.

Recent Antitrust Experience

Some of our recent experience in antitrust litigation includes the following:

• Currently defending an international energy company in a dispute that includes antitrust issues relating to conflicting claims of ownership of major offshore oil and gas lease interests.
• Represented a pipeline company partnership, whose partners are Fortune 500 energy companies, in Noer-Pennington antitrust litigation against a competing refining company that allegedly made bad faith efforts to exclude the pipeline from a defined market.
• In an international antitrust lawsuit, represented plaintiff companies in the United States and abroad, handling all aspects of discovery and dispositive motion briefing.
• Represented several oil and gas exploration companies in antitrust litigation against several service companies that formed a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices and monopolize the relevant market.