Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING: Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Jun 12, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

A periodic roundup of other items of interest to the Antitrust and Trade Regulation community.

ANTITRUST—W.D. Wis.: The federal district court in Madison, Wisconsin approved Daniel E. Laytin of Kirkland & Ellis LLP as liaison counsel for defendants in the consolidated litigation alleging that defendants Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Rose Acre Farms, Inc., Versova Holdings, LLC, Hillandale Farms entities, and Daybreak Foods, Inc.—collectively controlling nearly 50 percent of all U.S. egg-laying hens—engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy. The court agreed with the parties that the interests of each proposed class are sufficiently distinct to support separate interim lead counsel and it adopted a leadership structure and appointed counsel based on three possible classes: (1) direct purchasers; (2) indirect commercial purchasers; and (3) indirect consumer purchasers (In Re: Shell Eggs Antitrust Litigation, No. 3:25-cv-00946-jdp (W.D. Wis. Jun. 8, 2026)).

ANTITRUST—N.D. Ill.: The federal district court in Chicago granted the unopposed motion filed by Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs Bill Wagner & Son, Inc., Vitolite Electric Sales Co., and Hodges Supply Company (DPPs”) for approval of combined notice of preliminary approved settlements in the consolidated litigation alleging price fixing in the PVC pipe industry. The court had previously preliminarily-approved DPPs’ proposed class action settlements with the Settling Defendants including the form and content of the long-form and summary notices to potential members. Combining these three Court-approved notices into a single notice will reduce the possibility of class member confusion (In re PVC Pipe Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:24-cv-07639 (N.D. Ill. Jun. 8, 2026)).

ANTITRUST NEWS: David Duggin pleaded guilty on June 11, 2026, in the federal district court in Maryland to knowingly entering a conspiracy against the United States by accepting illegal kickbacks in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371, the Justice Department announced. The information against Duggin alleged that the government employee received a payment of $100,000 for favorable treatment, and another payment of over $260,000 for another company for favorable treatment on the government’s procurement of IT products (US v. Duggin, No. 1:26-cr-00169-JRR (D. Md. Jun. 11, 2026)).

ANTITRUST NEWS: A former Intelligence Community contractor pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit offenses against the United States by soliciting and accepting kickbacks, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced. David Duggin, a former Senior Systems Engineer and on-site contractor at a U.S. government Intelligence Community agency, and his co-conspirators allegedly used his on-site access to sensitive information at an intelligence agency to enrich himself and others by illegally obtaining government contracts for millions of dollars of hardware and software procured by U.S. government customers. Duggin’s co-conspirators paid Duggin at least $510,000 in illegal kickbacks in exchange for him influencing the procurement process to favor his co-conspirators. The conspiracy thwarted the competitive bidding process for the U.S. from at least as early as June 2018 and continued through at least as late as April 2024.

ANTITRUST NEWS: The House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report arguing that the NFL has stretched an antitrust exemption created by the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 (SBA) beyond its original purpose to the detriment of American consumers. Additionally, survey data obtained by the Committee suggests that the NFL's Sunday Ticket offering is not the consumer-friendly option that the NFL presents it to be. The results shown in the data suggest that the NFL's current model of placing games behind a paywall, especially through its Sunday Ticket offering, is harming consumers by forcing them to pay for a large package of NFL games when many consumers only want to see their favorite team's games. The existence of the data also suggests that the NFL has misstated the nature of its Sunday Ticket product.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it accepted final undertakings in the proposed merger between Getty Images and Shutterstock. After gathering evidence, the CMA’s independent inquiry group concluded that the merger between Getty and Shutterstock would lead to competition concerns for editorial content supplied to UK media outlets, but not for stock content supplied globally. Editorial content is content that includes pictures and videos of newsworthy events, people and landmarks. Once the sale of the Shutterstock editorial business is concluded to a CMA-approved purchaser, the Getty and Shutterstock merger, which the businesses have claimed will produce cost synergies of $150-200 million annually, can proceed.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has launched an investigation into Paramount Skydance Corporation’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: In a June 10, 2026, Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Paramount Skydance Corporation noted that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) cleared its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. The ACCC on June 9 allowed the merger to move forward subject to the expiration of a 14-calendar day waiting period set to expire on June 23. Further, the New Zealand Commerce Commission informed Paramount that it would not consider the merger further. According to the 8-K filing, the company also received necessary approvals from competition authorities in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Serbia and North Macedonia, and from foreign direct investment authorities in Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, New Zealand, Italy, France and Romania. Separately, the United Kingdom Competition & Markets Authority launched an inquiry into the deal on June 9. The proposed combination was announced on February 27.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The FTC announced it has finalized a consent order involving Sevita Health’s acquisition of BrightSpring Health Services Inc.’s community living business. The consent order requires Sevita to divest 128 intermediate care facilities (ICFs), which provide services to individuals with intellectual and development disabilities, and other assets such as day-training programs. The consent order requires Sevita to divest the facilities—located in Indiana, Louisiana and Texas—to Dungarvin Group Inc., an experienced operator of ICFs. The final consent order also imposes other conditions, including requiring Sevita to assist Dungarvin in obtaining all licenses, permits, authorizations or certifications related to, or necessary for, operating the divested facilities. The final consent order resolves FTC charges that Sevita’s acquisition of BrightSpring’s community living business, called ResCare Community Living, would reduce consumer choice and the quality of care for ICF services for individuals with intellectual and development disabilities in certain markets within Indiana, Louisiana and Texas.

AGENCY NEWS: Andy Wilson began serving as Ohio’s 52nd attorney general on June 8. Wilson was tapped for the position by Gov. Mike DeWine after former Attorney General Dave Yost resigned to join the Alliance Defending Freedom as its vice president of strategic research and innovation, according to the announcement.

AGENCY NEWS: Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced that President Trump has nominated Todd Blanche to be United States Attorney General.

AI NEWS: Congresswoman Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) introduced the Protect Working Musicians Act of 2026, which purports to give small independent artists and music creators the power to collectively negotiate with both streaming platforms and generative artificial intelligence (AI) developers for fair compensation. Under current law, small and independent musicians have little ability to bargain for fair compensation for the use of their music by global streaming platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music. Instead, they are forced to accept whatever terms are offered by these platforms, while also having little recourse against AI companies who routinely scrape and use their music without consent. This legislation allows independent artists to band together and collectively negotiate with large streaming platforms and AI developers, without running afoul of antitrust law.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: The FTC has asked a federal court to hold in contempt dietary supplement provider Amare Global Holdings, its former Chief Science Officer Shawn Talbott and two others over allegations they violated an FTC order that banned Talbott and those who work with him from making false, deceptive or unsubstantiated health claims. The contempt motion alleged that Amare Global, Talbott, Hintze and former Amare CEO Hiep Tran acted in concert to systematically violate the terms of a 2005 order that Talbott entered into with the FTC. The 2005 order prohibits Talbott and “all persons or entities in active concert or participation with him” from making representations about the health benefits, performance or efficacy of covered products without possessing and relying upon competent and reliable scientific evidence that substantiates the representation, and from misrepresenting the results of scientific studies. There are currently charges filed by the FTC against Amare Global, Talbott, the company’s founding brand partner Patrick Hintze and current CEO and majority shareholder David Chung for misrepresenting that dietary supplements marketed for children and adults could treat, cure or mitigate health conditions such as depression, anxiety and ADHD, and for misleading its seller recruits, known as brand partners, about their potential earnings. In filing for contempt, the FTC is seeking compensatory damages for consumers in the full amount consumers paid for the at-issue products.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) introduced legislation to combat the rise in youth gambling. The Gambling Advertisement to Minors Enforcement (GAME) Act would prohibit social media companies and other advertising websites from targeting minors with sports betting through online advertising. The FTC would be responsible for enforcing the law, which would begin one year after enactment. Under the GAME Act, repeat offenders can be referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which could impose financial penalties of up to $100,000 for each advertisement shown to a minor that promotes sports gambling. In cases where thousands of advertisements are shown to minors, the financial penalties could become substantial.

Attorneys: Brian J. Dunne (Bathaee Dunne LLP) for Matthew Edlin. Amy C. Miller (Eimer Stahl LLP) for Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Anthony J. Stauber (Gustafson Gluek PLLC) for George Bavolak. Britt Marie Miller (Mayer Brown LLP) for Atkore, Inc. Daniel Kenton Oakes (Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP) for Cantex Inc. Benjamin A. Kaplan (Crueger Dickinson LLC) for City of La Crosse. Daniel E. Gustafson (Gustafson Gluek PLLC) for City of Onalaska. Elizabeth French, U.S. Department of Justice, for the U.S. Charles Burnham (Burnham & Gorokhov, PLLC) for David Duggin.

Companies: Cal-Maine Foods, Inc.; Atkore, Inc.; Cantex Inc.; Paramount Skydance Corp.; Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.; National Football League; Getty Images; Shutterstock; Sevita Health; BrightSpring Health Services Inc.; Amare Global Holdings

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