On February 1, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a class action alleging bid-rigging and boycott conspiracies under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The Second Circuit found that Plaintiffs—eighteen pension funds and other investors in Treasury securities—failed to plausibly allege that Defendants—“primary dealers” in the market for U.S. Treasury securities—engaged in conspiracies to rig Treasury auctions or that a subset of these defendants participated in a group boycott in the secondary Treasuries market, because Plaintiffs failed to demonstrate the existence of an agreement with regard to either allegation.

On January 11, 2024, Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of the United States District Court for the Central District of California denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment in a case alleging that the National Football League (“NFL”) and its member clubs conspired and entered into unlawful agreements with each other and their broadcast partners to suppress the output of certain kinds of telecasts of professional football games in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.  In re Nat’l Football League’s Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litig., No. ML 15-02668 PSG (SK), 2024 WL 168298 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 11, 2024).

On April 8, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed an earlier district court order that certified three subclasses of tuna purchasers in a class action lawsuit alleging that defendants violated federal and state antitrust laws.  Olean Wholesale Grocery Coop. Inc. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, No. 19-56514, 2022 WL 1053459 (9th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022).

On July 23, 2020, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a motion for class certification in the Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation based on plaintiffs’ failure to show that they could establish class-wide impact through common proof.  The case is significant, among other things, in its close examination and rejection of plaintiffs’ statistical models based on average impact that mask the existence of putative class members who did not suffer any injury.
 

On November 12, 2019, Judge George J. Hazel of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed without prejudice plaintiffs’ putative class action against major airlines with routes between the United States and Mexico.  Plaintiffs had failed to allege violations of the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), Section 1 of the Sherman Act, or state law.  Rojas v. Delta Airlines, Inc., Case No. GJH-19-665 (D. Md. Nov. 12, 2019).  The Court also denied defendants’ motion to change venue.