As litigation to block the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger wages on at the state and federal level, four state attorneys general (AG) have jumped into the fray in support of the merger as the cases heat up on all fronts.Continue Reading State AGs Say Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Increase Grocery Market Competition
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.Continue Reading A Look at State AGs Supermarket Antitrust Enforcement Push
California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta announced a $50 million settlement with Vitol, Inc. (Vitol) and SK Energy Americas Inc. along with its parent company SK Trading International (collectively SK), to resolve a lawsuit involving allegations of antitrust violations and unfair competition in California’s gasoline market. The AG accused the companies of inflating gasoline prices after an oil refinery in Torrance, CA exploded in 2015.Continue Reading California AG Settles With Oil Companies
Anticompetitive conduct remains a priority for state attorneys general (AGs), as evidenced by a preliminary settlement between the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and an 11-state coalition of AGs, including Virginia, Colorado, District of Columbia, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia recently entered. Notably, the U.S. Department of Justice also signed the proposed settlement agreement. Filed in the Northern District of West Virginia, the antitrust lawsuit challenged the NCAA’s transfer eligibility rule. The proposed settlement agreement is subject to approval by U.S. District Judge John Bailey, who previously granted a preliminary injunction, preventing the NCAA from enforcing the transfer rule during the spring sports season.Continue Reading NCAA Reaches Settlement Agreement in Multistate AG Antitrust Lawsuit
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.Continue Reading New Jersey and California AGs Add to Their Antitrust Ranks
Private equity firms can breathe a sigh of relief after a federal judge dismissed claims that threatened to establish a precedent for holding private equity firms liable for certain actions by their portfolio companies.Continue Reading Federal Court Dismisses Antitrust Claims Against Private Equity Firm
Published in Law360 on May 23, 2024. © Copyright 2024, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. Reprinted here with permission.
On April 23, the FTC promulgated its final rule[1] banning noncompetes nationwide.[2]
While most commentary has focused on the scrutiny noncompetes would now garner at the federal level, few discussed the waterfall enforcement effect at the state level that would follow as state attorneys general could deploy their broad authority under state unfair or deceptive acts or practices, or UDAP, laws to treat noncompetes as separate and independent violations.[3]Continue Reading FTC Noncompete Rule Risks a Wave of State AG Actions
On Wednesday, attorneys general (AG) for the states of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia announced that they are joining Tennessee and Virginia in a multistate coalition challenging the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) “Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL)-recruiting ban.” Troutman Pepper previously reported on the lawsuit after the District Court entered a preliminary injunction order in February.Continue Reading Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia Join NCAA Antitrust Lawsuit
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.Continue Reading Google and State AGs Defend Proposed $700M Antitrust Settlement Amid Judicial Scrutiny
Just over a year has passed since President Biden signed the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act (the State AG Venue Act or Act) into law, and state attorneys general (AG) have already taken advantage of the law’s provisions.Continue Reading State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act: Recent Updates