Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: Court relates 12 suits involving contact lens makers’ retail pricing policies, (Mar 24, 2015)
Law Firms Mentioned:Patterson Belknap Webb and Tyler LLP | Perkins Coie LLP
Organizations Mentioned:Costco Wholesale Corp. | Costco Wholesale Corp. NEW | Johnson & Johnson | Johnson & Johnson Vision | Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. | Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP | Perkins Coie, LLP
By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.
The federal district court in San Francisco has agreed to relate 11 pending suits to an action brought by Costco Wholesale Corporation against contact lens manufacturers for engaging in a concerted action with eye care professional trade associations and buying groups to restrain competition by other retailers (Costco Wholesale Corporation v. Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., March 20, 2015, Gilliam, H.).
On March 2, Costco, a membership-based warehouse club, filed suit against Johnson & Johnson for engaging in a concerted action with eye care professional trade associations and buying groups to restrain competition by other retailers through the imposition and enforcement of minimum retail prices on the sale of contact lenses to consumers. On March 4, a group of consumers who purchased disposable contact lenses that were subject to minimum retail pricing policies filed a complaint against the same defendants. Similarly, on March 6, an individual consumer filed suit against the contacts lens manufacturers, alleging that the minimum retail pricing policies were anticompetitive.
Before the court were administrative motions to relate the following pending actions to the case: Case Nos. 3:15-cv-01001-JCS; 3:15-cv-01028-EDL; 3:15-cv-01045-JSC; 3:15-cv-01064-EJD; 3:15-cv-01095-EDL; 3:15-cv-01092-JCS; 3:15-cv-01090-DMR; 3:15-cv-01097-MEJ; 3:15-cv-01093-BLF; 3:15-cv-01123-EDL; and 3:15-cv-01124-JCS.
The court found that all twelve of the actions concern substantially the same parties, property, transaction, or event and it is likely that there will be an unduly burdensome duplication of labor and expense or conflicting results if the cases were conducted before different judges. Therefore, the matters were determined to be related to the current case and reassigned to the court for all future proceedings.
The case is No. 15-cv-00941-HSG.
Attorneys: David Barman (Perkins Coie LLP) for Costco Wholesale Corp. William Francis Cavanaugh (Patterson Belknap Webb and Tyler LLP) for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc.
Companies: Costco Wholesale Corp.; Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc.
Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews