Apparently, Mary Hanson, Tracey Nobel, Stefanie Nocera and the class they hope to represent do!
In a prior post, we noted that the U.S. Department of Justice and State of New York filed an antitrust complaint that seeks to unwind a joint venture formed in 2009 by two competing tour bus operators in New York City. The complaint alleges tour bus operators, soon after forming the JV, raised fares by 10%, which one of the operators predicted before the transaction would not have been possible “due to [the other’s] competition.”
As predicted then, the antitrust class actions have started. These complaints raise slightly different claims, but each is substantially based on what DOJ and New York alleged.
As we cautioned before, all of this drives home the point that you should make sure you do not need to engage antitrust counsel before embarking on a transaction. Otherwise, you may end up defending more than just a single challenge to the transaction.
*Written by Pete Townshend, sung by The Who