Antitrust

We Are an Experienced Antitrust Law Firm

Antitrust law violations occur when one company acting alone, due to its overwhelming strength in its industry, or multiple companies working together as part of a conspiracy seek to limit or eliminate competition through price fixing, territory agreements or other anticompetitive behaviors.  The end result is fewer buying options and higher prices for purchasers.

The attorneys at MURRAY FRANK LLP have years of experience representing groups who have been affected by antitrust law violations.  We dedicate our entire practice to class action lawsuits and fight aggressively to protect the interests of our clients.

Protecting Consumers Against Antitrust Law Violations

Antitrust law violations impact purchasers at every level of industry from manufacturers, to retailers, to end consumers.  Anyone can fall victim to antitrust schemes.  Many of the cases we handle involve helping retailers who have been victimized by product distributors or manufacturers.

For example, pharmaceutical companies engage in price fixing, it is the retailers who must absorb that cost or pass it on to their customers.  If credit card companies try to put unfair or unreasonable requirements on retailers in order to accept their cards, there may be a cause for an antitrust case.  Machine parts, food ingredients, even eggs and ice can be sold at an anticompetitive price due to antitrust conspiracies, thus wrongfully and artificially raising costs for consumers.

There are countless other examples of the ways retailers are harmed by antitrust law violations.  If you feel that you have an antitrust case, contact us immediately.

Recent Decisions

Packaged Ice Antitrust Litigation: The Court in In re Packaged Ice Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 08-MD-01952 (E.D. Mich., Southern Div.), recently denied motions to dismiss filed by defendants.  Plaintiffs in this multidistrict litigation involving 68 consolidated actions are both direct purchasers (retail stores and gas stations who bought from defendants) and indirect purchasers (individuals who bought from retail stores and gas stations) of Packaged Ice.  This decision only pertained to the direct purchasers.  The decision denying defendants' motions to dismiss the direct purchasers' complaint can be found by clicking here.

Online DVD Rental Antitrust Litigation: The Court in In re: Online DVD Rental Antitrust Litigation, Case No. M 09-2029 PJH (N.D. Cal.), recently denied a motion to dismiss filed by defendants Netflix and Wal-Mart.  This case involves a putative class of subscribers to the online DVD rental service of Blockbuster, Inc.  Plaintiffs allege that defendants Netflix and Wal-Mart caused plaintiffs to pay artificially inflated prices to non-defendant Blockbuster, Inc.  That decision can be found by clicking here.