Behrend

Lessons from an Epic Case — The Need for Speed

By Barry Barnett on December 21, 2015

On December 8, 2003, the antitrust class action that lawyers know as Comcast Corp. v. Behrend started a 12-year odyssey through the federal courts. On December 15, 2015, the settlement that will end Behrend became final.

Today begins a five-part series on lessons that Behrend taught. This post will focus on a need that all plaintiffs share: the need for speed in getting to a final outcome, whether favorable or not. But it highlights a danger that exists especially in legally complex cases — the risk that the governing law will make reaching a favorable final resolution more costly, time-consuming, and risky.
Continue Reading Lessons from an Epic Case — The Need for Speed

Why Comcast Corp. v. Behrend Went Off the Air

By Barry Barnett on February 12, 2015

In Roach v. T.L. Cannon Corp., No. 13-3070-cv (2d Cir. Feb. 10, 2015), the Second Circuit gave a narrow reading of the Supreme Court's ruling on class certification in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426 (2013).^*

The outcome does not surprise Blawgletter, who had the honor of arguing Comcast Corp.

Forget It, Jake. It’s Kabletown.

By Barry Barnett on May 5, 2013

At the end of the one of the Best Movies Ever, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) drives with her young daughter towards safety down a Los Angeles street. Will they escape? Yes, we think they just might!

A Los Angeles police lieutenant (Perry Lopez) steps onto the pavement. He aims his pistol and fires. Mulwray's car…

Prof. Epstein Explains Why We Should Have Won Comcast Corp. v. Behrend

By Barry Barnett on April 11, 2013

NYU Law School Professor Richard A. Epstein — "an advocate of minimal legal regulation" and "one of the most influential legal thinkers of modern times" — thinks the U.S. Supreme Court got its ruling wrong in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11-864 (U.S. Mar. 27, 2013) (post here).

Leaving to one side the…

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Amgen Class

By Barry Barnett on February 27, 2013

The legal landscape for class actions has gotten harder for plaintiffs to cross in the last decade or so. Today it got no worse. And plaintiffs and their counsel rejoice at that.

In Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, No. 11-1085 (U.S. Feb. 27, 2013), the Court ruled 6-3 that a…

Audio for Comcast Corp. v. Behrend

By Barry Barnett on November 12, 2012

You saw last week our post on our debut before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11-864 (U.S.). The post included a link to the transcript of the argument. Now you can listen to it also.

Our Day in Court — Supreme Court

By Barry Barnett on November 5, 2012

Blawgletter had the pleasure today of standing before the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. We urged their honors to send a case we've worked on for more than nine years back to the trial court . . . for trial.

We had not done that before…

Behrend v. Comcast Talk with New York State Bar’s Antitrust Section, Class Action Committee

By Barry Barnett on September 28, 2011

Blawgletter's friend Sam Simon asked us to visit this morning with the Class Action Committee of the New York State Bar's Antitrust Section, and the chair — whom we also count as a friend — Hollis Salzman gave her okay.

You can see below the remarks we wrote out (plus a Q&A at the end to reflect…

Cable Antitrust Class Okay, Third Circuit Rules

By Barry Barnett on August 23, 2011

The Third Circuit today affirmed a class certification order in an antitrust case.

The case, Behrend v. Comcast Corp., No. 10-2865 (3d Cir. Aug. 23, 2011), involves claims that Comcast violated sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and that the antitrust violations allowed Comcast to overcharge Philadelphia cable subscribers.

The court's 2-1…

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