Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On May 6, 2008 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) modified its previous order in 2000 prohibiting Nine West Group, Inc. from fixing retail prices with dealers. The FTC modified the order by granting Nine West permission to engage in resale price maintenance (RPM) with a caveat that the company would have to provide periodic reports…

On May 5, 2008, in 4-0 vote, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement that allowed Agrium, Inc. to buy UAP Holding Corporation (“UAP”) for $2.5 billion, making UAP a wholly owned subsidiary of Agrium. Agrium is required to sell five UAP farm stores in Michigan and two Agrium stores in Maryland…

On May 2, 2008, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against the Consolidated Multiple Listing Services (“CMLS”) of Columbia, SC. The lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court in Columbia, SC, alleges that the CMLS’s rules regarding who can be a member and how those brokers must conduct their business stifles…

On April 29, 2008, the DOJ required the divestiture of assets of Regal Cinema (“Regal”) and Consolidated Theatres Holding GP (“Consolidated”) in three metropolitan areas in North Carolina in order for the $210 million merger between the companies to proceed. The DOJ believes that the transaction would have resulted in less competition and higher ticket…

On April 28, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its final order and opinion enabling the lost competition between Chicago-based Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corporation (“ENH”) and Highland Park Hospital.In October 2005, an administrative law judge ruled that ENH’s acquisition of Highland Park Hospital was anticompetitive and violated federal antitrust law. In August 2007, the…

On April 28, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement with TALX Corporation regarding its acquisitions of various unemployment compensation management (“UCM”) and verification of income and employment (“VOIE”) services. UCM consists of administering, on behalf of large, multi-state employers, unemployment compensation claims filed with a state or territory. VOIE consists…

On April 24, 2008, Leonard Douglas “Doug” LaDuron, a former owner of three Kansas computer service companies (Serious ISP Inc., Myco Technologies Inc. and Elephantine Corporation), and his mother, Mary Jo LaDuron (a.k.a. Mary Jo Gault) pled guilty to conspiracy charges to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program. The E-Rate Program was authorized…

On April 23, 2008, the former senior vice president of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“BMS”), Andrew Bodnar, was indicted for his false statements to the federal government in its investigation into a patent settlement involving a blood-thinning drug used by patients of heart attack and stroke called Plavix. Mr. Bodnar agreed to plead guilty and pay…

On April 21, 2008, a federal grand jury in San Francisco, CA unsealed an indictment against a Canadian company, Newcon Optik Ltd. (“Newcon”), and two of its executives, Michael Beker (a.k.a. Mendel Beker) and Arie Prilik for their role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. military in Iraq.Mr. Beker, president and CEO, Mr. Prilik,…

On April 18, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed a comment with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) regarding an earlier notice of proposed rulemaking (“NOPR”) that sought to provide consumers incentives to reduce power use. FERC proposed to provide consumers with incentives to reduce power use when electricity is scarce and expensive at…