Antitrust

We have handled a number of important and high profile antitrust matters, both in federal court and before the Department of Justice.

We won three trials and an appeal on behalf of WGN-TV, which stymied the National Basketball Association's efforts to eliminate WGN's telecasts of Bulls games. In another antitrust case filed in Denver, we defeated the plaintiffs' claims that Tribune Broadcasting had monopolized the purchase of programming from major syndicators such as Warner Bros.

We represented a well-known company in California when the Department of Justice began an investigation of its pricing policies; we convinced the DOJ to drop the matter without filing a complaint.

We obtained summary judgment for Safety-Kleen on a competitor's claims of attempted monopolization and unfair competition in California. We also persuaded the court to sanction the opposing lawyers with one of the few, and the largest, Rule 11 awards ever granted in the Utah federal court.

The National Hockey League Players' Association retained us when one of its terminated licensees filed a lawsuit in California claiming that the NHLPA's licensing practices violated the antitrust laws. We won a dismissal of all claims. We currently are representing the NHL Players' Association and two college hockey players in a group boycott/conspiracy case against the Ontario Hockey League and its Member Clubs in the Eastern District of Michigan.

We recently obtained summary judgment for another client, Republic Tobacco, in major antitrust and disparagement litigation in Chicago involving claims by Republic's primary competitor of attempted monopolization of the cigarette paper industry relating to Republic's customer incentive programs. Our victory in this case eliminated a mid eight-figure damages claim against Republic.

We provide antitrust counseling to many of our clients. This advice encompasses review of pricing, joint venture, and a variety of other business practices potentially implicating state and federal antitrust statutes.