Antitrust Litigation

Weil won a dismissal of all claims for Simon & Schuster in two separate putative nationwide class actions against five major book publishers and Amazon. Across the two actions, Plaintiffs alleged violations of Sections 1 & 2 of the Sherman Act and price discrimination under the Robinson-Patman Act. Plaintiffs accused Amazon of scheming with the publishers on price restraints and allegedly unlawful provisions that caused eBook customers to overpay. Plaintiffs also alleged that the publishers conspired with Amazon to sell print books to Amazon at discriminatory prices not offered to independent booksellers. After the dismissals, plaintiffs amended their complaints. Defendants again moved to dismiss.

In August of 2023, for the second time in two years, a magistrate judge in New York recommended that both lawsuits against the publishers be dismissed. On August 28, 2023, the district judge adopted the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation in one of the action in full, dismissing it with prejudice.

Weil secured a victory for Hilton Worldwide in a significant antitrust lawsuit targeting the hospitality industry. In this federal multidistrict antitrust class action consolidating more than thirty lawsuits filed across the country, Plaintiffs sought billions of dollars in damages and attorneys’ fees, alleging a 10-year price-fixing conspiracy by the major hotel chains and online travel agents to eliminate online price competition. Weil first secured a stay of all discovery and then a complete dismissal for Hilton under Rule 12, and as a result of our arguments, Hilton was dropped as a defendant entirely when Plaintiffs attempted to replead.

• Weil is representing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in connection with monopolization, restraint of trade, and other claims against Novartis and Vetter relating to actions taken to prevent competition from Regeneron’s PFS version of Eylea.
• Weil also represents Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as plaintiff in an antitrust dispute adverse to Amgen in the District of Delaware, regarding alleged monopolization of the U.S. PCSK9 inhibitor market. Regeneron alleges that (1) Amgen is leveraging sales of Otezla and Enbrel with its drug, Repatha, to exclude Regeneron’s Praluent through a bundled rebate offer, and (2) the alleged bundled rebates lead to below-cost pricing of Repatha. Regeneron brought federal antitrust claims and state antitrust claims.

• Weil is representing BASF in a multi-district litigation on allegations that BASF, along with several other defendants, utilized loyalty program rebates to maintain a monopoly in the relevant market, exclude generic manufacturers, and charge supracompetitive prices.
• Weil is representing BASF in defense of multiple antitrust class actions in a consolidated multi-district litigation in which plaintiffs allege the company participated in a conspiracy to boycott electronic crop inputs platforms and increase prices for crop inputs.

• Weil represents Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation in In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, which is one of the largest antitrust cases in the country. The case involves more than 70 complaints filed by three purported nationwide classes and 160 Direct Action Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs allege that 19 poultry producers and a benchmarking organization conspired to restrict the supply of broiler chickens in violation of federal antitrust laws and state antitrust, consumer protection, RICO and unjust enrichment laws and collectively seek damages likely to exceed $10 billion. After several years of litigation, Weil secured highly favorable settlements with the three purported classes.
• Weil also represents Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation in In re Broiler Chicken Grower Litigation, which consolidates class action complaints filed on behalf of purported classes of broiler growers. Plaintiffs in these cases allege that PPC and other poultry integrators illegally conspired to suppress prices paid to broiler growers nationwide in violation of the Sherman Act and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated a series of “copycat” class action complaints from California, Colorado, and Kansas into MDL proceedings in Oklahoma. Discovery is ongoing, and the current case management order contemplates a close of fact discovery in February 2022.
• Weil also represents Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation in Jien v. Perdue Farms, Inc., a wage fixing and “no poach” case filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on August 30, 2019. Plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class of employees at poultry processing plants from 2009 to the present. After two years of litigation, Weil obtained a highly favorable icebreaker settlement with the purported class.

Weil represents LiquidPower Specialty Products (LSPI) in an ongoing civil litigation against defendant and counterclaim plaintiff Baker Hughes. Having recently prevailed in its challenge against the validity of LSPI’s patents, Baker Hughes accuses LSPI of using its patents to monopolize the market for drag reducing agents used in heavy crude oil, and is seeking damages for nearly a decade of alleged lost sales. Baker Hughes alleges that LSPI obtained its patents through fraud on the PTO and brought a sham lawsuit against Baker Hughes in order to monopolize the worldwide market for heavy crude oil drag reducing agents.

After Baker Hughes prevailed on its patent claims, the remaining antitrust claims became the focus of the case and put Weil’s antitrust team at the forefront of the litigation. Trial is currently scheduled for late 2024.