Successes
Cartels
Vitamins
Since 1999, Cohen Milstein has represented as co-lead counsel two certified classes of businesses who directly purchased bulk vitamins were overcharged as a result of a ten year global price-fixing and market allocation conspiracy. Chief Judge Hogan has approved four major settlements between certain vitamin defendants and Class Plaintiffs, including a landmark partial settlement of $1.1 billion. In a recent trial before Chief Judge Hogan of four of Class Plaintiffs' remaining unsettled Vitamin B4 (choline chloride) claims, a federal jury in Washington unanimously found Japan's second largest trading company, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., DuCoa, LP, a choline chloride manufacturer based in Highland, Illinois, and DuCoa's general partner, DCV, Inc. liable for participating in the conspiracy and ordered them to pay $49,539,234, which is trebled to $148,617,702 under the federal antitrust laws.
Rubber Chemicals
Cohen Milstein recently served as co-lead counsel in this case, where it successfully obtained certification of a class consisting of all persons or entities who directly purchased from the defendants certain chemicals used in the manufacture of tires and other rubber products. The case ultimately settled for $320 million. Under the terms of the settlement, class members recovered approximately 22% of the cost of their purchases from the defendants during the class period -- a truly extraordinary result.
Buspirone Antitrust Litigation
Plaintiffs alleged that Bristol Myers-Squibb Company, a producer of the drug BuSpar ®, unlawfully maintained a monopoly in violation of federal and state antitrust and unfair competition laws. A $90 million settlement was preliminarily approved in April 2003. Cohen Milstein served as one of four co-lead counsel.
Air Cargo Shipping Services
Cohen Milstein serves as one of co-lead counsel having special responsibility for non-US claims in which involves allegations of price-fixing among air carriers who provide cargo transport services. Cohen Milstein principally negotiated an $85 million settlement with Lufthansa Airlines, for which approval was sought in July of 2007.
Domestic Air Transportation
As co-lead counsel in this price-fixing case brought against airlines, Cohen Milstein obtained a settlement of travel discounts and cash totaling $458 million for a class of approximately 12 million individuals and businesses.
Kruman v. Christie’s International
Cohen Milstein served as one of three lead counsel on behalf of foreign plaintiffs and obtained a $40 million settlement. This case marked the first time that claims based on foreign transactions were resolved in U.S. court under U.S. antitrust law.
Flat Glass Antitrust Litigation
Plaintiffs alleged that the five major manufacturers of float glass and automotive replacement glass conspired to fix prices on a wide variety of glass products. Cohen Milstein served as co-lead counsel and obtained a total of $61.7 million in settlement funds on behalf of glass shops, window manufacturers, and others who directly purchased the affected products from the defendants.
Pease v. Jasper Wyman & Son, Inc.
Cohen Milstein served as co-lead counsel on behalf of a class of wild blueberry growers. In 2003, a Maine state court jury found three blueberry processing companies liable for participating in a four-year price-fixing and non-solicitation conspiracy that artificially lowered the prices defendants paid to approximately 800 growers of wild blueberries and awarded $18.68 million in damages. After mandatory trebling under Maine’s antitrust law, judgment was entered for approximately $56 million.
MCAA
On July 10, 2007, in the case of Diamond Chemical Company, Inc. v. Akzo Nobel Chemicals B.V. et al., a U.S. federal judge in Washington, D.C. awarded over $5.1 million to The George Washington University Law School to endow a Center for Competition Law.
The $5.1 million plus cy pres award resulted from a successful antitrust lawsuit brought on behalf of a plaintiff class harmed by an international anticompetitive conspiracy to fix prices for the sale of sodium monochloroacetate and monochloroacetic acid in the United States and elsewhere. The cy pres legal doctrine allows unclaimed settlement funds to be distributed to the “next best” use, i.e., for the indirect benefit of the class and the non-claiming class members.
The GW Center for Competition Law will focus on the novel and special challenges to traditional private antitrust enforcement due to the globalization of markets. As U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated, “anticompetitive cartels have become increasingly international as a result of economic globalization and reductions in barriers to trade, and that, as a result, enforcement of U.S. antitrust and competition laws by U.S. consumers alone may not sufficiently deter international cartels.”
In order to respond to these challenges, Michael Hausfeld acting as Lead Counsel on behalf of Class representative Diamond Chemical Company, Inc. and the class, comments: “the proposed center will focus on the needs of global private enforcement of competition law to remedy the harms caused by global cartels. Competition laws around the world will be analyzed in order to harmonize private enforcement of those laws and maximize recoveries on behalf of U.S. and foreign consumers. The GW Center will greatly benefit all consumers by deterring the formation of international cartels and raising the level of corporate governance.” Specifically, the Center’s mission would include sponsoring and conducting research into competition law and its private enforcement; organizing conferences; and serving as a resource for those seeking to promote and coordinate private enforcement in competition law in the United States and abroad.
Monopolies
Relafen Antitrust Litigation
Cohen Milstein served as co-lead counsel on behalf of a class of direct purchasers alleging that the defendant drug manufacturer unlawfully extended its monopoly in the U.S. market for Relafen and its generic equivalents by fraudulently procuring an invalid patent and using it to prevent generic competition. The case settled for $175 million.
Oncology & Radiation Associates, P.A. v. Bristol Myers Squibb Co.
Cohen Milstein has been co-lead counsel in this case since it's inception in 2001. Plaintiffs' alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb unlawfully monopolized the United States market for paclitaxel, a cancer drug discovered and developed by the United States government, which Bristol sells under the brand name Taxol. Bristol's scheme included a conspiracy with American BioScience, Inc., a generic manufacturer, to block generic competition. Cohen Milstein's investigation and prosecution of this litigation on behalf of direct purchasers of Taxol led to a settlement of $65,815,000 that was finally approved by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on August 14, 2003 and preceded numerous Taxol-related litigations brought by the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General offices.
North Shore Hematology-Oncology Associates, P.C. v. Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.
Plaintiffs allege that Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company unlawfully monopolized the United States market for cisplatin, a cancer drug which Bristol sells under the brand name Platinol, in violation of federal antitrust laws. Cohen Milstein’s investigation and prosecution of this litigation on behalf of direct purchasers of Platinol lead to a settlement of $50 million in November 2004. Cohen Milstein served as lead counsel.
Meijer, Inc. v. 3M
Cohen Milstein served as co-lead counsel for a class of direct purchasers of 3M invisible and transparent tape. The class included companies of various sizes, including large retailers such as Staples and Office Depot. The plaintiffs alleged that 3M unlawfully maintained its monopoly through various anticompetitive conduct including bundled rebate programs and exclusive dealing arrangements. The court denied 3M’s motion to dismiss on antitrust injury and statute of limitations grounds. Following discovery, Cohen Milstein led a joint mediation effort on behalf of the class as well as two opt-out plaintiffs, resulting in a total settlement of $30 million, approximately $28.8 million of which was allocated to the class. The court certified the settlement class and approved the proposed settlement. Click here to view a related article.
