The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently charged a Puerto Rico ophthalmologist cooperative with organizing a group boycott of a health plan in violation of section 5 of the FTC Act.  This action demonstrates the need for providers to be heedful of the antitrust laws when engaging in group contracting efforts.  While agreements among independent providers on the prices or payors they will deal with are usually per se illegal, there are exceptions for financially or…

Duke Energy Corporation (Duke) agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a DOJ claim that it violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act) by failing to comply with the HSR waiting period requirement.  The complaint from the DOJ originated from Duke’s acquisition of the Osprey natural gas power plant from Calpine Corporation, which was reportable under the HSR Act.  Duke allegedly took control of the Osprey plant before filing the required HSR notification…

On January 19, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the revised thresholds for determining whether companies are required to notify federal antitrust authorities about a transaction under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (HSR Act).  The new minimum filing threshold will be $80.8 million. All of the revised thresholds are higher than the current amounts.  To read more about the adjusted HSR Thresholds please click here.…

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR Act”) requires companies and individuals to report large transactions above certain thresholds to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), and then to observe a 30-day waiting period before closing their transactions. In two recent cases, investors resolved FTC allegations that they failed to observe these requirements by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil penalties. According to a complaint filed by the FTC and the…

On January 15, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission announced the annual threshold adjustments for premerger filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (15 U.S.C. § 18a) (“HSR”). The new thresholds have increased the dollar amount required to trigger HSR notification for both the size-of-transaction and size-of-person tests. Click here to read the full issued alert.…

On January 17, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission announced the annual threshold adjustments for premerger filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (15 U.S.C. § 18a) (“HSR”). The new thresholds have increased the dollar amount required to trigger HSR notification for both the size-of-transaction and size-of-person tests. Click here to read the issued client alert.…

This post was also written by Jessica R. Rose. The U.S. Supreme Court last week issued a significant decision subjecting pay-for-delay settlements, a common practice in the pharmaceutical industry, to antitrust review. Also known as reverse payments, these settlements typically involve payments from a brand drug manufacturer to a generic drug manufacturer to settle patent litigation that would jeopardize the brand manufacturer’s legal, patent-protected monopoly. In FTC v. Actavis, a five-member majority of the…