A federal judge asked Blawgletter a few years ago what we thought about "cy pres" (sounds like "sigh pray") payments in class actions. The judge had in mind a method of dealing with money that a class settlement or judgment produces but that for one reason or another doesn't find its way into
antitrust
The Politics of Merging
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter said, in the first blush of astonishment at AT&T's plan to buy T-Mobile, that we felt in our gut the deal would never go through.
But now we read that left-leaning groups like the NAACP, NEA, AFL-CIO, and GLAAD support the merger. Will wonders never cease?
No one, we suspect, would accuse any of those outfits of…
Concord Boat Sinks Antitrust Case; Pop! Goes the Catheter
By Barry Barnett on
If you work much on antitrust lawsuits, you learn the names of cases that inspire strong feelings on both sides of the "v." Concord Boat lives in that realm.
The Eighth Circuit ruled after a jury trial in Concord Boat Corp. v. Brunswick Corp., 207 F.3d 1039 (8th Cir. 2000), that 24 boat-makers had no antitrust…
Antitrust Laws Don’t Aim to Protect Consumers, Ninth Circuit Points Out in TV Bundling Case
By Barry Barnett on
Why do we have antitrust laws?
The Supreme Court has called them "the Magna Carta of free enterprise", United States v. Topco Assocs., Inc., 405 U.S. 596, 610 (1972), and the Sherman Act "a comprehensive charter of economic liberty", Northern Pac. R.R. Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 4 (1958).
Sounds great. But…
Quote of the Day: Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.
By Barry Barnett on
Stop wasting your money on antitrust lawyers. Hire patent lawyers instead.
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., "The Trustbusters' Last Meal Ticket", The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 16, 2011 (fussing again about those durn antitrust laws).
Class Certification in Antitrust Cases: A Brave New World
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter wrote a paper class cert in antitrust cases for a Practising Law Institute program that went webinar last month. Read it here if you dare:
Where to file. From a plaintiff's perspective do you have favorite courts to file antitrust class actions. What are the undesirable courts from a defense perspective. Are there…
Fear, Antitrust, and AT&T
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter felt in our gut that the AT&T deal with Deutsche Telekom to buy the T-Mobile wireless system would never go through.
Christine Varney, the head of the Antitrust Division in the U.S. Department of Justice, wouldn't stand for it. She threw out a Division report that she saw as too deal-friendly and teamed up with…
The Antitrust Lawyer’s Guide to the Supreme Court’s No-Antitrust Term
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter just wrote a paper for an American Bar Association newsletter. It starts thus:
You know that the Supreme Court took no antitrust cases in its (current) October 2010 Term, right? You feel either sad (defense lawyer) or happy (plaintiff side), yes? We’ll have no Twombly,[1] no Leegin,[2] no Weyerhaeuser…
DeBeers Seems Likely to Keep Class Certification After En Banc Rehearing
By Barry Barnett on
In case you missed the en banc argument on Wednesday to the Third Circuit in Sullivan v. DB Investments Inc., No. 08-2784 (audio file here; post on panel decision here), Blawgletter offers our fragmentary notes below.
[By way of background, a panel of the Third Circuit ruled that, because some states don't allow indirect…
Webinar on Class Certification in Antitrust Cases: A Brave New World
By Barry Barnett on
A couple weeks ago, if you found yourself in downtown Philadelphia, you could've stopped in the U.S. courthouse there and seen Blawgletter argue a Rule 23(f) appeal to an impressive panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal challenges an order certifying a class of Philadelphia-area cable subscribers. Behrend v. Comcast Corp., No.