In the 11th episode of our 12 Days of Regulatory Insights podcast series, Ashley Taylor, co-leader of Troutman Pepper’s State Attorneys General team, is joined by Brad Weber, co-chair of Locke Lord’s Antitrust practice group, and Tim Bado, a member of Troutman Pepper’s Regulatory Investigation, Strategy, and Enforcement (RISE) practice group, to discuss the increasing role of state attorneys general (AGs) in antitrust enforcement.
Published in Law360 on July 16, 2024. © Copyright 2024, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. Reprinted here with permission.
Gone are the days when state attorneys general leave antitrust enforcement to their federal counterparts at the Federal Trade Commission or the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division.
State attorneys general have become considerably more active in the antitrust space over the past several years, and there seems to be no sign of slowing down.
Continued focus on antitrust enforcement has led the New Jersey and California attorneys general (AG) offices to go on a hiring spree. New Jersey AG Matthew Platkin recently announced the establishment of a permanent, stand-alone Antitrust Litigation and Competition Enforcement Section to enforce the New Jersey Antitrust Act. Meanwhile, the California AG’s office intends to hire eight new antitrust attorneys in June 2024, with more expected throughout the year. The announcement out of the California AG’s office aligns with the state’s aggressive antitrust enforcement practices, and comes just two months after the California Department of Justice announced its plan to invigorate criminal antitrust prosecutions.
On April 17, a group of five state attorneys general (AG) and Google filed briefs defending the proposed $700 million settlement agreement reached in three antitrust suits[1] brought against Google.
On March 6, the California Department of Justice’s (California DOJ) Antitrust Chief Paula Blizzard, announced at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime that her office is planning to reinvigorate criminal antitrust prosecutions. California’s antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, prohibits practices that restrict commerce, prevent competition, or enter agreements that lessen competition. Blizzard touted that the Cartwright Act is “broader and deeper” than its federal counterpart, the Sherman Act. She conceded that the California DOJ has not brought a criminal prosecution under the Cartwright Act in 25 years, but she expects that to change.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a coalition of nine state attorneys general (AG) filed a lawsuit on February 26, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon seeking a preliminary injunction to stall Kroger Company’s (Kroger) proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons Companies (Albertsons), citing concerns that the proposed deal would eliminate competition among the supermarket giants, leading to higher grocery prices for millions of Americans. FTC commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the lawsuit, which was joined by AGs from Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wyoming. Simultaneously, the FTC filed an administrative complaint against Kroger and Albertsons to block the proposed transaction.
Most products with an online marketing presence generally have “customer reviews.” However, today’s consumers cannot always trust that those reviews are from real purchasers or provide honest feedback about the quality of a product. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sought to address these concerns, proposing a new rule aimed at stopping marketers from using illicit review and endorsement practices, including using fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews, and paying for positive reviews. Proponents of the rule argue these types of practices deceive consumers who are looking for honest feedback on a product or service.
Updated November 11, 2022 at 11:29 AM ET
2022 State Attorneys General Election Re-Cap
On November 8, 30 states and the District of Columbia held elections for state attorneys general. Below are the current results of the elections for each of the 31 races. We will continue to update this blog post as results are
On September 30, 11 Democratic attorneys general (AGs), led by the AGs of the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Delaware, sent a letter in support of major credit card companies Visa, Mastercard, and American Express adopting a new merchant category code for the sale of firearms. The letter from leading Democratic AGs follows a
Two dozen Republican attorneys general (AGs), led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, sent a letter to the CEOs of credit card giants Visa, American Express, and Mastercard, warning them to halt plans that would add a new merchant category code for gun retailers. The International Organization for Standardization