Antitrust

Antitrust Trials Highlight Persistent Issue of Judicial Activism: Will Judges Make or Break Mergers?

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Boston, MA – Antitrust law and the issue of merger enforcement continue to be plagued by judicial activism, straying from the conservative legal movement’s principles of interpreting the law rather than shaping it. The Clayton Act, enacted in 1914, tasked the Department of Justice with assessing whether a merger would “substantially lessen competition” or create a monopoly in any industry. However, recent antitrust trials have demonstrated that some courts are willing to allow anticompetitive actions, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. One such trial in Boston involves JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit … Read more

Federal Jury Awards $5.3 Billion Verdict in Antitrust Case Against National Association of Realtors and Real Estate Franchisors

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National Association of Realtors and major real estate franchisors have been found guilty in an antitrust case that accused them of colluding to inflate real estate commissions. A federal jury issued a verdict in favor of approximately 500,000 Missouri homesellers seeking reimbursements for $1.78 billion in commissions paid to buyer brokers. The jury awarded $1,785,310,872 in damages, which will be trebled to $5.356 billion under the law. The case focused on whether there was a conspiracy among the defendants — NAR, Keller Williams, Realogy, RE/MAX, HomeServices of America, and its … Read more