United States and Plaintiff States v. JBS S.A., No. 08CV5992 (N.D. Ill. 2009)
JBS, headquartered in Brazil, sought to acquire National Beef Packing, Inc., headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The U.S. Department of Justice and 13 states sued to block the transaction, which, according to the complaint, would substantially restructure the beef packing industry, eliminating a competitively significant packer and placing more than 80 percent of domestic fed cattle packing capacity in the hands of three firms: JBS, Tyson Foods Inc., and Cargill Inc. The complaint alleged that the acquisition would lessen competition among packers in the production and sale of USDA-graded boxed beef nationwide and would lessen competition among packers for the purchase of fed cattle ? cattle ready for slaughter ? in the High Plains, centered in Colorado, western Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, and the Southwest. In February 2009, the parties announced that they were abandoning the transaction.
State of Colorado et al v. Warner Chilcott, 1:05-cv-02182 (D.D.C.2005)
34 states filed suit alleging that Warner Chilcott entered into an illegal agreement with Barr Pharmaceuticals to raise the prices of Ovcon, an oral contraceptive. The lawsuit alleged that after Barr Pharmaceuticals publicly announced that it planned to have a generic version of Ovcon on the market by the end of the year, Warner Chilcott paid Barr Pharmaceuticals $1 million for an agreement designed to prevent Barr’s generic product from coming to market. Under the terms of the alleged agreement, once Barr received FDA approval to market generic Ovcon, Warner Chilcott had 90 days to pay Barr $19 million, after which Barr would refuse to bring the cheaper generic version to the market. The lawsuit alleged that as a result of the agreement, Warner Chilcott paid Barr a total of $20 million to keep it from marketing its generic version of Ovcon. In additon to a payment of $5.5 million, the settlement prohibits Warner Chilcott, for ten years, from entering into any agreement that would have the effect of limiting the research, development, manufacture, or sale of a generic alternative to one of its drugs. Furthermore, Warner Chilcott must provide the states notice of certain agreements it has entered into with generic manufacturers, and must continue to make its records available to the states for inspection to determine whether the company is complying with the terms of the agreement.
U.S. and Colorado v. Vail Resorts, Inc., No. 97-B-10 (D.Colorado, Jan. 3,1997)
Joint investigation, complaint and settlement involving merger of two Colorado ski resort chains.
Colorado v. Rocky Mountain Paint & Body et al.
Plaintiff state reached settlement with auto body shops in Longmont Colorado to resolve allegations that they agreed to set prices for auto body work.
Colorado ex rel. Weiser v. Unitedhealth Group;
UnitedHealth Group sought to acquire the physician practice group of DaVita Inc., which owned two large physician’s’groups in Colorado Springs. UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the region. The FTC investigated the merger but did not take any action with respect to Colorado. The state filed a complaint in state court aleging that the transaction would give the combined parties the ability to raise their price to other insurance companies that serve Medicare Advantage patients in the Colorado Springs area. The state alleged that the merger would resultin “reduced competition, higher health care costs, reduced benefits and fewer choices for seniors.” The state reached a consent judgment with the parties, under which UnitedHealthcare will lift its exclusive contract with Centura Health for at least 3.5 years, which will expand the network of healthcare providers available to seniors in Medicare Advantage plans offered by other providers. In addition, DaVita Medical Group’s agreement with Humana—UnitedHealthcare’s main competitor in Colorado Springs—will be extended without change through at least the end of 2020 .
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