Antitrust & Competition

Kirkland’s antitrust litigation practice is led by a core group of experienced and practical trial lawyers who successfully defend clients in their most important government-initiated and private antitrust cases. The team’s experience covers the full spectrum of antitrust claims, including cartels, monopolization, pricing disputes, unfair competition, price discrimination, intellectual property and merger-related litigation.

Representative Matters

• Representing Hitachi Inc. and Hitachi Display Products as defense counsel in multiple class action, direct action and state attorney general claims alleging billions of dollars in damages for alleged price fixing of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display products and cathode ray tubes. Hitachi has reached favorable settlements with all class, state attorney general and direct action plaintiffs.
• Representing Blue Cross Blue Shield and numerous Blue Plans in a series of lawsuits challenging the structure of the Blue System of health insurance under the antitrust laws. The case is believed to be the largest antitrust MDL in the country. According to the plaintiffs, BCBSA’s long-standing licensing strategy of its familiar Blue Cross and Blue Shield marks in exclusive geographic territories violates the antitrust laws. Plaintiffs seek to force multiple Blue Plan licensees to offer insurance in individual states and also seek treble damages for alleged premium overpayments. Plaintiffs’ putative classes include the millions of Americans who are insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans, and all doctors and hospitals that contract with Blue Plans.

Kirkland has immense experience in U.S. and foreign M&A clearances. Kirkland files over 200 Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) notifications annually – the Firm files HSR notifications in approximately 17 percent of all transactions reported to U.S. antitrust agencies annually – and regularly handles transactions requiring European, Asian and Latin American antitrust clearances. Working closely with Kirkland’s corporate attorneys, the antitrust group provides realistic pre-transaction assessments, assists in contractual risk allocation negotiations, and secures expedited regulatory clearances.

Representative Matters

• AbbVie on antitrust matters in connection with its $83 billion acquisition of Allergan.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company on antitrust matters in connection with its $90 billion acquisition of Celgene Corporation and its related $13.4 billion divesture of Celgene’s OTEZLA® program to Amgen.
• GlaxoSmithKline on antitrust matters in connection with its $12.7 billion joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses.
• Huntsman Corporation on antitrust matters in connection with the $2.1 billion sale of its chemical intermediates and surfactants businesses to Indorama Ventures and its $350 million acquisition of Icynene-Lapolla.
• Infineon Technologies on antitrust matters in connection with its $10 billion acquisition of Cypress Semiconductor.
• Nexstar Broadcasting Group on antitrust matters in connection with its $6.4 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co.
• Olympus Partners and Liqui-Box on antitrust matters in connection with the $585 million acquisition of DS Smith’s plastics division.
• SemGroup Corporation on antitrust matters in connection with its $5.1 billion sale to Energy Transfer.
• Spectrum Brands (owner of Rayovac batteries) on antitrust matters in connection with the $2 billion sale of its battery and lighting products business to Energizer Holdings.
• Staples Inc. on antitrust matters in connection with its $996 million acquisition of Essendant Inc. The FTC cleared the transaction, subject to a firewall consent, following issuance of a Second Request.
• Tronox on antitrust matters in connection with the $700 million sale of the North American business of National Titanium Dioxide Company Limited (Cristal) to INEOS Enterprises.
• WellCare Health Plans on antitrust matters in connection with its $17.3 billion sale to Centene Corporation.

Kirkland lawyers have years of experience litigating high-profile criminal antitrust and cartel-related matters, both domestically and internationally. While the Firm’s history of involvement in such matters is decades old, Kirkland lawyers remain at the forefront of this high-stakes practice, defending numerous clients who have come under criminal and civil antitrust scrutiny, whether in the U.S. or other sovereign nations and international bodies. In the course of these ongoing matters, Kirkland lawyers have successfully obtained favorable, non-prosecution resolutions and reasonable settlements and defeated the government at trial.

Representative Matters

• Represented an international auto parts manufacturing company in an antitrust investigation by the European Commission and U.S. Department of Justice in relation to a larger investigation into cartel agreements among auto parts manufacturers.
• Represented Tomkins Limited (n/k/a Gates Worldwide Limited) in relation to follow on damages proceedings that were brought by a number of builders merchants relating to a cartel finding by the European Commission with respect to a number of manufacturers and suppliers of copper fittings commonly used in the building trade. We secured a very favorable settlement in which the client was completely exonerated from all claims in the proceedings.
• Representing BASF Corporation and affiliate BASF Metals Ltd. in a putative antitrust class action alleging a Sherman Act violation and various violations of the Commodities Exchange Act arising from alleged conduct in connection with the price discovery process for platinum and palladium. We won full dismissal for the BASF entities by arguing lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. Our motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ amended complaint remains pending.

Kirkland has extensive experience working with the antitrust and competition agencies around the world. Kirkland has competition lawyers in London, Brussels and Shanghai, plus a network of competition attorney contacts, including throughout Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, the remainder of Europe, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and many other countries. This network ensures seamless compliance with the relevant notification requirements and allows for prompt competition clearances from those authorities.

Representative Matters

• Defended Trina Solar Ltd. in an antitrust case alleging a price-fixing conspiracy among Chinese solar panel manufacturers to exclude U.S. competitors and, by doing so, driving the plaintiff into bankruptcy. We won dismissal of the case, and subsequently defeated the plaintiff’s bid for reconsideration and motion to amend the judgment. The decision was affirmed on appeal and the plaintiff's petition for a writ of certiorari was denied.
• Represented Evergreen Marine in the European Commission’s investigation into alleged competition law infringement from pricing announcements by container shipping liners, involving novel questions of law. The Commission has elected not to proceed to a statement of objections, and the case has been resolved favorably for the industry.
• Advised on the State aid aspects of the restructuring and privatization of Olympic Airlines/Olympic Airways Services. The Greek Government sought to privatize the assets for maximum value while bringing to an end long-standing State aid investigations. The Commission approved the plans and declared the privatization would not amount to new State aid. We also worked closely with the Commission-appointed Monitoring Trustee to ensure adherence to the scheme.
• Represent multiple auto parts industry executives and manufacturers in cross-border investigations involving Brazil, European Union, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain and United States, among others.