The Paul, Weiss Antitrust Practice advises clients on a full range of global antitrust matters, including antitrust regulatory clearance, government investigations, private litigation, and counseling and compliance. The firm represents clients before antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions around the world.
Paul, Weiss Wins Dismissal of Antitrust Class Action for Becton, Dickinson
- Client News
- March 15, 2021
Practices
Paul, Weiss won the complete dismissal, with prejudice, of an antitrust class action against Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD).
The lawsuit, Marion HealthCare v. Becton, Dickinson & Company et al., was brought by plaintiffs suing on behalf of a putative class of all U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers. Plaintiffs claimed that BD conspired with distributors of its products to inflate the prices of syringes and IV catheters by excluding competitors from the market. In 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois granted BD’s motion to dismiss an earlier version of the complaint, finding that plaintiffs lacked standing to sue BD under the Supreme Court’s decision in Illinois Brick. Plaintiffs appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which remanded to allow plaintiffs to try to establish, in an amended pleading, that they fit within a “conspiracy exception” to the Illinois Brick rule.
On remand, BD moved to dismiss again on grounds that plaintiffs had failed to adequately allege a conspiracy. In a hearing on the motion to dismiss on February 23, the Paul, Weiss team argued that the amended complaint should be rejected in its entirety, because the plaintiffs had failed to allege facts sufficient to plead a conspiracy and thus did not satisfy the “conspiracy exception.” U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel granted the motion, finding that plaintiffs’ conspiracy claim was “implausible on its face, and it must be dismissed.”
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Robert Atkins, Jacqueline Rubin and William Michael, and counsel Daniel Crane. William Michael argued the motion to dismiss.