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.
Sumitomo Obtains Dismissal of Antitrust Conspiracy Claims
- Client News
- September 12, 2012
Practices
As reported in Law360, Paul, Weiss client Sumitomo Corporation of America announced that a price-fixing lawsuit brought against the company in United States federal court was dismissed with prejudice by plaintiffs shortly after discovery in the case began. No payments or other consideration of any kind were exchanged among the parties.
The lawsuit concerned allegations that Sumitomo conspired with two other companies to fix the price of magnesium oxide, which Sumitomo said were without merit. The core of the complaint was the allegation that a representative from Sumitomo admitted to the price-fixing conspiracy at a single meeting held years before the complaint was filed. Plaintiffs told Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey that they learned about the alleged conspiracy from a "whistleblower" who attended the meeting described in the complaint. The court held that the complaint met the basic pleading requirements in the federal rules of civil procedure.
After answering the complaint, Paul, Weiss immediately deposed the alleged whistleblower, who denied key parts of the complaint and contradicted other parts. Shortly after the deposition, the named plaintiffs agreed to stay discovery, and then to dismiss the case with prejudice. Paul, Weiss had previously won a complete dismissal with prejudice of a complaint filed by a group of indirect purchasers alleging similar facts.
The Paul, Weiss team consisted of litigation partner Aidan Synnott, counsel Daniel Crane and associate David Kessler.