|
Services Available
Antitrust
Our antitrust practice runs the gamut of the antitrust laws, including issues involving concerted action, monopolization and attempts to monopolize, and price discrimination. We represent clients in investigations and litigation initiated by the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department (civil and criminal), the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, and foreign enforcement authorities, as well as private treble-damage antitrust litigation. We also counsel and represent clients involved in mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures regarding the antitrust analysis of the proposed transaction; any premerger notifications that may be required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act or foreign competition laws; and defense of the transaction if it is investigated.
Consumer Protection
We represent and advise a broad range of clients, from giant consumer products firms whose names are household words to niche marketers who need advice about or representation in matters involving federal and state consumer law requirements. These involve all aspects of advertising and marketing, from cutting-edge issues of electronic commerce by telemarketers and online sellers to direct marketing by infomercials as well as traditional print and broadcast ads. Credit, mail order compliance, warranties and other specialized areas, such as sweepstakes and other games of chance, are within our scope of services.
When disputes turn into litigation, we help companies fight in court or reach acceptable out-of-court settlements, often in situations where it is important to deal with multiple parties, such as federal and state regulators, and private plaintiffs, who may bring or threaten to bring simultaneous legal challenges that must be resolved on a global basis. Our biggest successes are often non-public, such as convincing a government agency to close an inquiry or to advise a company in a manner that avoids regulatory issues, but in a way that is sensitive to, and the least disruptive to, its legitimate marketing goals.
Consumer Product Safety
Our attorneys have extensive experience in representing clients before the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, including the submission of required reports and notifications, and designing and implementing product recalls and other corrective actions.
In addition, our attorneys are thought leaders in shaping developments in antitrust law. Baker Hostetler antitrust and trade regulation attorneys are quoted frequently in the general and trade press on current issues, publish commentary on antitrust developments, are active in the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association, and have made substantial contributions to the ongoing work of the Antitrust Modernization Commission. In addition, our antitrust and trade regulation team is led by a former federal prosecutor, and a number of our attorneys have served in government antitrust and consumer protection enforcement agencies. As a result, we offer clients an enforcement perspective on litigation and counseling -- both in the United States and abroad.
We balance competitive risk and legal compliance in antitrust disputes.
Leadership in Action
Antitrust: Winning in a multibillion-dollar antitrust class action
Client: Northwest Airlines and its international Partner, KLM
Type of Matter: Antitrust class action
Our Client's Challenge: A nationwide class of travel agents brought suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, claiming that our clients and other major domestic and international airlines had conspired to reduce and ultimately to eliminate base commissions (paid as a percentage of value) on airline tickets.
The Goal: Defend our clients against a claim for what could have been a ruinous $13 billion in damages (before the trebling of damages that is automatically applied in antitrust cases).
Our Strategy: We demonstrated that the challenged conduct resulted from technological and economic changes in the airline industry, not a conspiracy, and wrote a motion for summary judgment on behalf of our clients. That motion was joined in by American, Continental, and Delta.
Results: The trial court ruled that we had offered "overwhelmingly compelling evidence" that the commissions and caps that were the subject of the litigation were the result of "competitive conduct and natural changes in the market." The ruling was affirmed on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Antitrust & Trade Regulation Experience
- Developed a joint operating agreement application for two large publishing concerns, gained approval of the agreement by the Attorney General under the Newspaper Preservation Act, and defended the agreement against an attempted preliminary injunction by a local advertiser, allowing the two newspapers to merge their business operations and save millions of dollars through operational efficiencies.
- Won a defense verdict in a jury trial in Long Island for a leading retailer of aftermarket automotive parts in a case brought by some 200 independent aftermarket auto parts dealers who sought $1 billion in antitrust damages from large national and regional retailers of aftermarket parts.
- Won summary judgment for Puerto Rico's largest newspaper and its affiliated commercial printing company in an antitrust case brought by a competing printing company alleging attempted monopolization of the market for printing newspaper advertising inserts.
- Won summary judgment for a large auto glass repair and replacement company in an antitrust suit brought by independent automobile glass repair shops claiming unlawful exclusion from auto insurers' repair networks.
- Won summary judgment for one of the big three automakers in an antitrust case in Texas brought by a truck dealer challenging the automaker's sales assistance program.
- Defended a national beauty products firm against an antitrust suit in Tennessee attacking its distribution policies to sell only to professional salons.
- Defended a major Canadian potash producer against class action claims of a price-fixing conspiracy among Canadian and U.S. potash companies.
- Won a victory for a major university hospital in an antitrust suit in Washington, DC brought by a surgeon who maintained that his hospital privileges had been illegally terminated.
- Represented the only successful foreign national plaintiffs in monopolization litigation against an international software manufacturer.
- Secured the reinstatement of a dealer that had been terminated by a leading international manufacturer for allegedly violating the manufacturer's resale policy.
- Counseled a trade association of U.S. and multinational manufacturers entering into an alliance with its Chinese counterpart.
- Won a jury verdict for a fully integrated energy company, when the State of California and City of Long Beach sued for antitrust violations in the billions of dollars, alleging a crude oil purchasing conspiracy among energy companies.
- Represented a biological products concern in a major vitamin industry price-fixing case involving over 100 criminal and civil lawsuits worldwide, with our client paying only minimal fines compared to the multimillion dollar judgments and criminal sentences for other defendants.
- Represented a small medical device manufacturer as plaintiff in a monopolization case against one of the biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, asserting an attempt to drive our client from the market through abuse of market power, improper bundling, tying of incentives and organization of a group boycott.
About Baker Hostetler's Litigation Team
When the stakes are bet-the-company monetary damages, potential criminal sentences, and intense scrutiny in the court of public opinion, the 200-plus litigators of Baker Hostetler are a team to depend on. We have the kind of credentials you expect from a leading national litigation firm and a client base we have protected in and out of court for decades.
What really sets us apart is our practical experience as trial lawyers. The Baker Hostetler team includes former top prosecutors of the U.S. Justice Department (four of whom received the Attorney General's Distinguished Services Award), former prosecutors for major municipalities, veteran civil trial attorneys and enforcement officials from various federal agencies, from the Department of Energy to the SEC and NASD.
About Baker Hostetler
Baker Hostetler lawyers help clients establish, maintain and protect market-leading positions across the United States and around the world. We offer clients the strength of 600+ lawyers in a full range of practices, a unique geographic platform including both the coasts and the center of the country, a deep knowledge of industry issues and a 90-year track record of excellence and achievement.
For more information about our Litigation practice:
National Contact
Melissa H. Maxman
202.861.1560
mmaxman@bakerlaw.com
Cincinnati
William Appleton
513.929.3403
wappleton@bakerlaw.com
Cleveland
Ernest E. Vargo
216.861.7349
evargo@bakerlaw.com
John D. Parker
216.861.7610
jparker@bakerlaw.com
Megan P. Frient
216.861.7067
mfrient@bakerlaw.com
Columbus
Thomas L. Long
614.462.2626
tlong@bakerlaw.com
Richard W. Siehl
614.462.2639
rsiehl@bakerlaw.com
Costa Mesa
George T. Mooradian
714.966.8800
gmooradian@bakerlaw.com
Denver
Raymond Sutton
303.764.4103
rsutton@bakerlaw.com
Houston
Billy M. Donley
713.646.1382
bdonley@bakerlaw.com
Judy Gechman
713.646.1342
jgechman@bakerlaw.com
Los Angeles
John F. Cermak
310.442.8885
jcermak@bakerlaw.com
New York
Paul P. Eyre
212.589.4210
peyre@bakerlaw.com
George A. Stamboulidis
212.589.4211
gstamboulidis@bakerlaw.com
Orlando
Thomas Ball
407.649.4004
tball@bakerlaw.com
Washington, DC
Melissa H. Maxman
202.861.1560
mmaxman@bakerlaw.com
Lee H. Simowitz
202.861.1608
lsimowitz@bakerlaw.com
Ronald F. Wick
202.861.1794
rwick@bakerlaw.com
|
RSS | Blog | Advertising Opportunities | Site Map | Contact Us