Antitrust Litigation

Represent Wanhua Chemical (America) Co., Ltd. and Wanhua Chemical Group Ltd. in civil class action litigation alleging a conspiracy to restrict production and supply of chemicals MDI and TDI. V&E also represented Wanhua in connection with a grand jury subpoena, which led to DOJ closing its investigation without taking any action

Represent major shippers in antitrust lawsuits against the major railroads for price fixing fuel surcharges, and have been appointed co-liaison counsel to lead more than 100 related cases

Represent multiple Delta Dental companies in consolidated class actions alleging a conspiracy to raise or stabilize insurance reimbursement payments to dentists via a market-division and price-fixing schemes

Represent multiple defendants in a series of consolidated class actions alleging a conspiracy to fix or stabilize the price of multifamily residential housing via the use of a common algorithm

Represent U. S. Steel in litigation concerning an alleged group boycott of a foreign steel manufacturer

Represent Lukoil Pan Americas, LLC in litigation concerning an alleged conspiracy to rig bids for tenders from Venezuelan national oil company and fix prices on oil field equipment sold to the same company

Represent Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas, Inc. and affiliates in litigation related to alleged price fixing of several auto parts

Represented Southwest Airlines, Inc. in more than 100 lawsuits concerning whether the four major airlines unlawfully agreed to restrain the growth of airline capacity and increase air travel fares

Represented AirTran Airways, Inc. in a multi-district antitrust putative class action alleging that AirTran and Delta conspired on first bag fees. V&E won summary judgment in favor of AirTran, which the Eleventh Circuit summarily affirmed in March 2018 and collected statutory costs

Represent Maxell, Ltd., Maxell Corporation of America, and Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. in antitrust litigation alleging a conspiracy to fix and raise prices of batteries and finished products containing batteries

Represented Heartbrand Beef, Inc. against claims of conspiracy to restrain trade and monopolization in the market for premium beef in the United States; after a seven-day trial, the jury found in favor of the client, awarding both actual and exemplary damages

Represented a major independent grocer in a National Advertising Division proceeding concerning price comparison advertising by rival grocery chain

Obtained a substantial victory for technology client upholding the district court’s denial of class certification in the In re Optical Disk Drive Products antitrust litigation

Representing a global manufacturer of titanium dioxide in a matter pertaining to ongoing titanium dioxide antitrust litigation; the case, brought by an individual company and an alleged nationwide class of indirect purchasers of titanium dioxide, alleges our client and others conspired to fix the prices of titanium dioxide sold in the U.S. during a certain time period; the cases are currently in discovery

Represent a major midstream service provider before the Texas Railroad Commission and in related state court litigation regarding demands for access to the company’s distribution system connecting oil and gas terminals, refineries, and import/export facilities

Represent a major independent pharmacy chain in allegations that more than 7 million purchases of generic drugs had been mispriced. The state district court granted the pharmacy’s motion for summary judgment and held it was not liable on the class representative’s claims

Represented health care system in private civil lawsuits brought by two physicians alleging Section 1 violations associated with the implementation of new credentialing requirements which resulted in the termination of medical staff privileges for the two plaintiffs; both lawsuits were settled favorably on behalf of client

National counsel defending industry-leading multinational electronics companies in price-fixing class actions, individual plaintiff actions, and state attorney general actions regarding cathode ray tube products

Antitrust counsel for Samsung Electronics defending IP-related antitrust claims in multi-billion dollar litigation with Rambus, coordinating with patent counsel in worldwide related proceedings

Represented leading international electronic component manufacturers in criminal proceedings and civil price-fixing class actions, opt-out cases and State Attorneys General actions concerning thin film transistor liquid crystal display products, including groundbreaking litigation regarding the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement Reform Act (618 F.Supp.2d 1194) and dismissal of multi-billion dollar opt-out claims based on overseas purchases under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act

Representing MasterCard in coordinated class actions and related settlement appeals concerning alleged payment card tying and network exclusionary practices

Secured complete dismissal of all claims against electronics company in boycott and monopsonization case relating to smartphone patent licensing, based on lack of antitrust standing and failure to allege a plausible conspiracy; obtained affirmance of defense judgment on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

As lead counsel for major global provider of cybersecurity products, obtained complete dismissal of antitrust boycott and refusal to deal claims regarding testing standards development, as well as closure of related Department of Justice Antitrust Division investigation without action

Lead antitrust counsel for automotive component supplier seeking declaratory relief and determination and imposition of FRAND licensing terms in action challenging monopolization and concerted refusal to license alleged standard essential patents relevant to cellular standards on FRAND terms and conditions

As lead trial counsel, defended telescope manufacturer against price-fixing, market allocation, attempted monopolization, and related state law claims, including through six-week jury trial

Obtained complete dismissal of sham litigation, predatory pricing and state unfair competition counterclaims in patent infringement action concerning electric grid voltage optimization technology

Lead counsel for global European energy company with respect to civil investigative requests from the California Attorney General and related civil litigation regarding allegedly anticompetitive energy trading practices