Amy Vegari Litigation Attorney Patterson Belknap

Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D., Associate

Antitrust Update Blog

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Antitrust Update Blog is a source of insights, information and analysis on criminal and civil antitrust and competition-related issues. Patterson Belknap’s antitrust lawyers represent clients in antitrust litigation and counseling matters, including those related to pricing, marketing, distribution, franchising, and joint ventures and other strategic alliances. We have significant experience with government civil and criminal/cartel investigations, providing the unique perspectives of former top U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division lawyers from both the civil and criminal sides.

Classes Certified in In re Suboxone “Product-Hopping” Case

by William F. Cavanaugh, Jr. and Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. on November 6, 2019

Recently, Judge Goldberg in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania certified two classes of plaintiffs asserting antitrust claims based on alleged “product hopping” by the manufacturer of branded tablets treating opioid addiction.  In re: Suboxone (Buprenorphine Hydrochloride and Nalaxone) Antitrust Litig., 13-md-2445, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166524 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 26, 2019).  While declining to certify a class of end payors seeking injunctive relief, the court nevertheless certified  (1)  a damages class of direct purchasers of Suboxone tablets under Rule 23(b)(3) and (2) an issues class of end payors certified under Rule 23(c)(4).  The court held that certification of the latter class would materially advance the litigation because the issue of alleged anticompetitive conduct—which focuses only on the conduct of defendants—is “wholly severable” from the issues of antitrust impact and damages, which could raise individualized issues. 

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Judge Finds Lack of DOJ Funding No Excuse for Delay in Review of Public Comment to CVS-Aetna Merger

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Robert P. LoBue on January 18, 2019

Though the merger of CVS and Aetna received conditional approval from the DOJ’s Antitrust Division back in October, the road to final approval has been rocky as the court’s exasperation with the parties appears to grow.  Last week, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Antitrust Division to respond to public comment on the merger by February 15, 2019—notwithstanding the fact that appropriations to the Antitrust Division lapsed on January 4, leaving the Division without funding.

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District Judge Criticizes Pace of Aetna – CVS Merger

by Robert P. LoBue and Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. on December 5, 2018

After two hearings over the last week, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District Court for the District of Columbia seems to have put the brakes on the well-publicized merger between health care giants CVS and Aetna.  The merger obtained conditional approval from the DOJ’s Antitrust Division on October 10, 2018, and the parties seemed poised for court approval when they appeared before Judge Leon on November 29, 2018.

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Third Circuit Holds No Sham Litigation or Unlawful Reverse Payment in Wellbutrin XL Litigation

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Jonathan H. Hatch on August 25, 2017

The Third Circuit recently affirmed the grant of summary judgment to GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) in the nearly 10-year-old Wellbutrin XL Antitrust Litigation, which challenged the lawfulness of settlement agreements resolving patent disputes over Wellbutrin XL.  In determining that GSK had not violated the Sherman Act, the court determined that GSK’s settlement of patent infringement lawsuits did not reflect that GSK had engaged in sham litigation, or that GSK made unlawful “reverse payments” to settle that litigation.  To reach these conclusions, the court carefully picked apart years of evidence

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Seventh Circuit Finds Exclusive Dealing in Hospital-Payer Case Pro Competitive

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and William F. Cavanaugh, Jr. on June 21, 2017

“But what is more common than exclusive dealing?”  Affirming summary judgment for defendant Saint Francis Medical Center, the Seventh Circuit recently held that the hospital’s contracts with health care insurers—though admittedly exclusive—did not harm competition.  In fact, such contracts were likely the product of a competitive market in which Saint Francis was simply the best competitor.

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No Use Crying Over Settled Claims?: Second Circuit Affirms Approval of Dairy Farmers’ Settlement

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Jonathan H. Hatch on April 21, 2017

This week, the Second Circuit affirmed the approval of a $50 million agreement settling price-fixing claims brought by a class of farmers against a dairy cooperative and a dairy marketing company.  The settlement in Allen et al. v. Dairy Farmers of America et al. was notable for at least two reasons that were seemingly at odds: First, the unusually high number of claims filed; and second, the vociferous advocacy of two named plaintiffs who objected to the settlement.  The objectors argued that class counsel colluded with defendants’ to reach a settlement agreement, and coerced class members to support the settlement.

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Alleging a Negative: The Challenges of Bringing a Refusal-to-Deal Claim

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Jonathan H. Hatch on February 27, 2017

What does to take to state a claim under Section 2 of the Sherman Act for refusal to deal?  Last week’s decision in Viamedia, Inc. v. Comcast Corp. and Comcast Spotlight, LP, a case out of the Northern District of Illinois, highlights the difficulty of plausibly alleging a negative:  that a defendant monopolist’s exclusionary conduct lacks any procompetitive purpose.

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Circuit Split on Certification: How far can evidence of price-fixing carry antitrust plaintiffs?

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Jonathan H. Hatch on January 17, 2017

Manufacturers of containerboard and corrugated products have asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on a Circuit split concerning the impact of negotiated prices on class certification in antitrust cases brought under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.  Petitioners filed for a writ of certiorari on December 30, 2016, arguing that the Seventh Circuit in Kleen Products LLC, et al. v. International Paper Company, et al., Nos. 15-2385, 15-2386 (7th Cir. Aug. 4 2016), erred in two related ways, both of which flow from the fact that prices of the containerboard products at issue in the case tend to be individually negotiated. 

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Searching for Causation in ACTOS Complaint

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Jonathan H. Hatch on September 23, 2016

How explicitly must a complaint sounding in antitrust allege causation?  At oral argument last week, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit evaluated the sufficiency of the plaintiffs’ allegations that certain Takeda entities, in their representations to the FDA, falsely described patents for the antidiabetic drug ACTOS in order to delay the entry of generic competitors into the market—specifically, whether the plaintiffs had pleaded enough facts to show that these representations plausibly caused the delay.

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Procompetitive Effects of Business Associations in the Balance?: Business Association Membership and the Sufficiency of Sherman Act Allegations

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. on July 6, 2016

What facts beyond mere membership in a trade association trigger Sherman Act liability?  Next term, the Supreme Court will hear an antitrust case testing the requirements for pleading the conspiracy element of a claim brought under the Sherman Act—namely, whether the allegation that defendants belong to an association is sufficient for a Section 1 claim.  

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Expert Analysis Guides Decision to Certify Class of Automotive Part Purchasers

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. on July 1, 2016

Certifying a class of direct purchasers of sheet metal parts alleging claims under section 1 of the Sherman Act, Judge Lynn Adelman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin focused on what it means for common questions to predominate in an antitrust class action.  

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District Court Finds Uber CEO, by Driving for Uber, May be Liable for Driving Up Prices

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. and Robert P. LoBue on April 6, 2016

It is plausible that Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, may have violated antitrust law by fixing prices charged to Uber passengers, a judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York concluded last week in denying Kalanick’s motion to dismiss.  The lawsuit, Meyer v. Kalanick, is a putative class action initiated by Spencer Meyer, a resident of Connecticut, on behalf of people who, like him, have used Uber car services.  The complaint also names a subclass of people who have been charged according to Uber’s “surge pricing” model.

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Staples Closes Defense, Calls No Witnesses in Merger Trial Brought by FTC

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. on April 6, 2016

Yesterday, Staples closed its defense in the case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block the Staples-Office Depot merger—without calling any witnesses.  Judge Emmet Sullivan of the D.C. District Court stated that he “did not anticipate” this unusual move by Staples.  The CEOs of both Staples and Office Depot were slated to testify; instead, Judge Sullivan began hearing closing arguments.

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Fifth Circuit Considers Independent Conduct in Vertical Agreements to Facilitate Horizontal Conspiracy

by Amy N. Vegari, Ph.D. on December 7, 2015

On November 25, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the $156 million antitrust judgment in MM Steel, L.P. v. JSW Steel (USA) Incorporated; Nucor Corporation, upholding a jury verdict that found one defendant steel manufacturer (JSW Steel) liable for participation in an illegal conspiracy to block distributor MM Steel from entering the market.  The Court of Appeals reversed the jury verdict as to defendant Nucor, another steel manufacturer.  In so doing, the Fifth Circuit identified evidence that does—and does not—tend to exclude the possibility of independent conduct for purposes of finding a violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act.  The court also underscored that per se liability (and not the rule of reason) attaches to horizontal conspirators’ use of vertical agreements to shut competitors out of the market.

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