Antitrust Litigation

Class Action and Opt-Out Litigation

Proven Representation in Price Fixing and Monopoly Litigation

Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen, P.A. represents businesses and individuals in antitrust class action suits and opt-out litigation to recover damages caused by manufacturers and producers of goods and services who fix prices and otherwise violate the antitrust laws. Our Minneapolis-based firm has represented clients in lawsuits in federal courts of Minnesota and nationwide.

Antitrust Laws

Since 1890, the United States antitrust laws have protected businesses and consumers by prohibiting certain anti-competitive business practices such as conspiracies in restraint of trade and monopolization. There are three major federal antitrust laws: the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act. These laws protect businesses and consumers from the following activities:

Agreements among competitors to fix prices at artificially high levels to secure increased profits and sales;
Agreements among competitors to allocate customers or markets in order to eliminate or reduce competition;
Boycotts within an industry to prevent competitors from entering markets;
Bid rigging by competitors to determine in advance which competitor will be awarded a particular contract;
Creation or misuse of monopoly power through wrongfully exclusionary means.

Various state legislatures have enacted parallel legislation, allowing state court actions against businesses engaged in anti-competitive conduct. In many instances, state laws go beyond the protections afforded under the federal statutes, by providing civil litigation remedies for indirect purchasers (i.e., third party purchasers who did not buy directly from the price-fixing or monopolizing entity).

Although the Antitrust laws are enforced by government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and state attorney general’s offices, individuals and businesses may bring private civil antitrust suits to recover damages as a result of anticompetitive conduct. Often, these private suits are brought as class actions.

Antitrust litigation cases are often substantial in their size and economic impact, many of which involve damages in the tens of millions of dollars, and some of which are much larger in scope. In addition, these cases often involve complicated legal issues and factual patterns, which require the skills, ingenuity, and perseverance of experienced litigators. Individually and in cooperation with allied law firms, Mansfield Tanick & Cohen, P.A. has been and currently is involved in high-profile antitrust lawsuits.

Current Antitrust Cases Being Prosecuted by Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen, P.A.

Price Fixing:

In re Cotton Yarn Antitrust Litigation, Case No: 1:04MD1622. In this multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) class action venued in the Middle District of North Carolina, Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen represents two wholly owned subsidiaries of the world’s largest safety apparel manufacturer. The suit alleges that defendants and their co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize prices for cotton yarn sold in the United States between January 1, 1999 and February 11, 2004.

In re Foundry Resins Antitrust Litigation, Case No: C2:04-mdl-1638. In this MDL class action venued in the Southern District of Ohio, Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen represents an Akron, Ohio casting producer. The suit alleges that defendants and their co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize prices for foundry resins sold in the United States between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2003.

In re Pressure Sensitive Labelstock Antitrust Litigation, Case No: 3:03-MDL-1556. In this MDL class action venued in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen represents Northwest Pennsylvania's oldest printing company. The suit alleges that defendants and their co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize prices for self-adhesive labelstock sold in the United States between January 1, 1999 and present.

In re Parcel Tankers Antitrust Litigation, Case No: 03-CIV-348. In this MDL class action venued in the District of Connecticut, Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen represents a New Jersey protein and oil manufacturer, packer and distributor, and its wholly owned subsidiaries in Chile, Panama, and Peru. The suit alleges that defendants, the world’s largest suppliers of shipping services, and their co-conspirators, engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize prices for shipping services sold in the United States between June 1, 1998 and February 20, 2003.

In re Publication Paper Antitrust Litigation. Case No: 3:04 MD 1631. In this MDL class action venued in the District of Connecticut, Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen and its co-counsel have brought suit against the world’s largest manufacturers of publication paper. The suit alleges that defendants and their co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize prices for publication paper sold in the United States between January 1, 1993 and present.

Pharmaceutical Monopoly:

Oxycontin Antitrust Litigation. Case No: 04-CV-9813. Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen and its co-counsel have brought suit in the Southern District of New York against pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, on behalf of several health maintenance organizations (“HMOs”). The suit alleges that Purdue Pharma illegally obtained and maintained its monopoly in the market for the pain medication oxycodone (marketed as “Oxycontin”) by perpetrating fraud on the U.S. Patent Office resulting in the exclusion of generic competitors from the market.

Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen – An Example of Past Antitrust Cases

In re Vitamin Antitrust Litigation. Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen was involved in antitrust litigation brought on behalf of food companies, livestock feed producers, and other consumers against a cartel consisting of over a dozen of the world’s largest manufacturers of vitamins and vitamin components. The firm and its co-counsel represented two of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains, which elected to “opt-out” of a larger class action settlement. The firm recovered tens of millions of dollars for its clients.

Contact Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen to arrange a consultation with our antitrust litigation attorneys.