Antitrust

Benesch’s antitrust attorneys assist clients with developing business and regulatory strategies to successfully navigate antitrust and competition law matters. We have handled antitrust and competition matters in industries including health care, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, transportation, distribution, construction, manufacturing, e-commerce and consumer products. Our clients include individuals involved in government investigations, public companies and private equity firms.

Some aspects of antitrust matters which we routinely handle in litigation, pre-litigation and transactional arenas include:

• Contractual review
• Pricing decisions, including predatory pricing, price gouging, resales, internet sales, and other pricing issues
• Marketing decisions and competitive analysis in the arena of attempted monopolization, customer and market area limits
• Horizontal/vertical integration
• Monopoly, conspiracy and other matters under the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, state antitrust laws and other statutes
• Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act matters
• Robinson Pattman Act matters, including price discrimination issues
• Boycotts, refusals to deal and exclusive dealing arrangements
• Tying and bundling issues
• Import/export tariffs, regulations and bans, including anti-dumping statutes
• International competition issues, including the European Union and Far East
• Antitrust policies, audits and training

We litigate antitrust cases in state and federal courts, defending companies and individuals accused of criminal or civil antitrust violations, and represent clients engaged in mergers or other business combinations before regulatory and enforcement agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ). Our work often involves assisting clients who are required to produce extensive documentation or electronically stored information (ESI) as part of governmental investigations. We regularly counsel private equity clients on deals and transactions, especially in relation to due diligence and merger clearance issues. We assist trade associations, cooperatives, and industry groups dealing with competition-related issues for themselves and their members. 

Knowledge of antitrust laws and government regulatory and enforcement policies and procedures play an important role in the effective representation of health care providers and payors. Competition issues frequently arise in the health care industry and our Health Care and Litigation attorneys have experience in handling a variety of matters at the federal and state levels.