Antitrust

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s antitrust practice focuses on representing businesses and individuals who have been the victims of price-fixing, unlawful monopolization, market allocation, tying and other anti-competitive conduct. The Firm has taken a leading role in many of the largest federal and state price-fixing, monopolization, market allocation and tying cases throughout the United States.

  • In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litig., 05 MDL No. 1720 (E.D.N.Y.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys are co-lead counsel in one of the country’s largest antitrust actions, in which merchants allege Visa, MasterCard and their member banks, including Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Wells Fargo and HSBC, among others, have collectively imposed and set the level of interchange fees paid by merchants on each Visa and MasterCard credit and debit transaction, in violation of federal and state antitrust laws. Fact discovery has closed, and plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and the defendants’ motions to dismiss are under submission.

  • In re Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litig., 01 MDL No. 1409 (S.D.N.Y.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys recovered $336 million for credit and debit cardholders in this multi-district litigation in which the Firm served as co-lead counsel. Plaintiffs alleged that Visa and MasterCard, and certain leading member banks of Visa and MasterCard, conspired to fix and maintain the foreign currency conversion fee charged to United States cardholders, and failed to disclose adequately the fee in violation of federal law. In October 2009, the trial court granted final approval of the $336 million settlement and described the Firm as a “highly competent and experienced” law firm. The court specifically commented: “Class Counsel provided extraordinarily high-quality representation. This case raised a number of unique and complex legal issues including the effect of arbitration clauses on consumer antitrust class actions, and collusive activity in the context of joint ventures.” The court further praised the Firm as “indefatigable” and noted that the Firm lawyers “represented the Class with a high degree of professionalism, and vigorously litigated every issue against some of the ablest lawyers in the antitrust defense bar.” The trial court’s final approval decision is currently on appeal.

  • The Apple iPod iTunes Antitrust Litig., Case No. C-05-00037-JW (N.D. Cal.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys are co-lead counsel for a proposed class of iPod purchasers. Plaintiffs assert that Apple illegally maintained its monopolies in the digital music and portable player markets by designing and revising its products to render any competing player or digital music incompatible. This conduct locked Apple's competitors out of the market and allowed Apple to inflate the price at which iPods were sold. Discovery is ongoing.

  • In re Aftermarket Automotive Lighting Products Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 2007 (C.D. Cal.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys are co-lead counsel in this multi-district litigation in which plaintiffs allege that defendants conspired to fix prices and allocate markets for automotive lighting products. Discovery is ongoing.

  • Dahl v. Bain Capital Partners, LLC, MDL No. 1023 (S.D.N.Y.). Case No. 07-cv-12388-EFH (D. Mass). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys are co-lead counsel on behalf of shareholders in this action against the nation’s largest private equity firms who have colluded to restrain competition to suppress prices paid to shareholders of public companies in connection with leveraged buyouts. The trial court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss and discovery is ongoing.

  • In re Digital Music Antitrust Litig., 06 MDL No. 1780 (S.D.N.Y.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys are co-lead counsel in an action against the major music labels (Sony-BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner Music Group) in a case involving music that can be downloaded digitally from the Internet. Plaintiffs allege that defendants restrained the development of digital downloads and agreed to fix the distribution price of digital downloads at supracompetitive prices. Plaintiffs also allege that as a result of defendants’ restraint of the development of digital downloads, and the market and price for downloads, defendants were able to maintain the prices of their CDs at supracompetitive levels. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld plaintiffs’ complaint, reversing the trial court’s dismissal.

  • In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 1023 (S.D.N.Y.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys served as co-lead counsel in this case in which investors alleged that NASDAQ market-makers set and maintained artificially wide spreads pursuant to an industry-wide conspiracy. After three and one half years of intense litigation, the case settled for a total of $1.027 billion, at the time the largest ever antitrust settlement. The court commended counsel for its work, saying:

    Counsel for the Plaintiffs are preeminent in the field of class action
    litigation, and the roster of counsel for the Defendants includes
    some of the largest, most successful and well regarded law firms in
    the country. It is difficult to conceive of better representation than
    the parties to this action achieved.

    See In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig., 187 F.R.D. 465, 474 (S.D.N.Y. 1998).

  • Hall v. NCAA (Restricted Earnings Coach Antitrust Litigation), Case No. 94-2392-KHV (D. Kan.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys served as lead counsel and lead trial counsel for one of three classes of coaches who alleged that the National Collegiate Athletic Association illegally fixed their compensation by instituting the “restricted earnings coach” rule. On May 4, 1998, the jury returned verdicts in favor of the three classes for more than $70 million.

  • Thomas & Thomas Rodmakers, Inc. v. Newport Adhesives and Composites, Inc. (Carbon Fiber Antitrust Litigation), Case No. CV-99-7796 (C.D. Cal.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys were co-lead counsel (with one other firm) in this consolidated class action in which a class of purchasers alleged that the major producers of carbon fiber fixed its price from 1993 to 1999. The case settled for $67.5 million.

  • In re Carbon Black Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 1543 (D. Mass.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys recovered $20 million for the class in this multi-district litigation in which the Firm served as co-lead counsel. Plaintiffs purchased carbon black from major producers that unlawfully conspired to fix the price of carbon black, which is used in the manufacture of tires, rubber and plastic products, inks and other products, from 1999 to 2005.

  • In re Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Antitrust Litig., 02 MDL No. 1486 (N.D. Cal.). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys served on the executive committee in this multi-district class action in which a class of purchasers of dynamic random access memory (or DRAM) chips alleged that the leading manufacturers of semiconductor products fixed the price of DRAM chips from the fall of 2001 through at least the end of June 2002. The case settled for more than $300 million.

  • Microsoft I-V Cases, J.C.C.P. No. 4106 (Cal. Super. Ct., San Francisco County). Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys served on the executive committee in these consolidated cases in which California indirect purchasers challenged Microsoft’s illegal exercise of monopoly power in the operating system, word processing and spreadsheet markets. In a settlement approved by the court, class counsel obtained an unprecedented $1.1 billion worth of relief for the business and consumer class members who purchased the Microsoft products.

Precedent-Setting Decisions