Antitrust laws are designed to promote fair market competition.  They set rules for competition in the marketplace, ensuring that businesses do not engage in predatory business practices that are harmful to consumers.  These practices may include:

• Market Allocation: a practice where multiple companies in the same industry agree not to enter into territories serviced by the other so that they can each maintain artificially high and non-competitive prices in their own territories.
• Price Fixing: a practice where two or more companies in the same industry selling similar products or services expressly agree to sell their products or services at the same prices in order to avoid price competition.  By doing so, they can charge inflated, non-competitive, prices for their products or services.
• Illegal Tying Arrangements:  a practice where a seller of a product or service conditions the sale of one product or service on the buyer’s agreement to purchase a separate product or service from the seller.  The illegal tying arrangement may also occur if the seller conditions the sale of one product or service on the buyer’s agreement not to purchase a competitors product or service.
• Bid Rigging: a practice where multiple companies that participate in auctions or other processes that require competitive bidding set up a system that allows them to determine ahead of time who will win each bid or auction so that they do not have to compete.
• Monopolization: a practice whereby a single company in an industry uses exclusionary or predatory tactics to gain and maintain such a dominant level of market power that others who seek to enter into the same industry cannot effectively compete.

Each of these practices, among others, can be harmful to consumers and business because they result in artificially inflated prices for products or services.  If the companies who engage in these practices actually played by the rules, the products or services they sell would be cheaper because fair competition drives prices to their lowest levels.  These can also be harmful to small businesses who may find that they are shut out of industries because their larger competitors have an unfair advantage.

Antitrust litigation is one of the most complex types of business litigation because the claims are fact-intensive and turn on the unique nature of the illegal activity in the particular industry involved.  Antitrust litigation is hard-fought, requiring a lengthy and significant legal battle against well-funded defendants.  In pursuing an antitrust claim it is important that you select a lawyer that is experienced and has the resources to see it through to the end.

We are experienced in taking on these protracted legal battles and can assist businesses and consumers seeking to ensure that companies who’ve engaged in illegal antitrust activities are held accountable for their actions. We have represented consumers and small businesses in antitrust lawsuits for more than twenty years, including plaintiffs in some of the largest antitrust actions in United States history, such as the In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation which had a total settlement that was valued by the court at between $25 and $87 billion.  

If you believe you may have suffered a violation of the antitrust laws, or if you have inside information about an antitrust conspiracy, Keller Grover can help you evaluate whether you have a claim or if the laws have been broken.  If you want to discuss a potential antitrust litigation matter with a qualified attorney, please contact our law firm today for a free consultation.