California Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Paula Blizzard recently announced that the California Attorney General’s Office (AGO) intends to “reinvigorat[e] criminal prosecutions” under California’s Cartwright Act, Cal. Bus....more
Over ten years ago, individuals and businesses insured by health plans that contract with Sutter Health filed a class action lawsuit against Sutter Health alleging antitrust violations under federal and California laws....more
Morrison Foerster’s State and Local Government Task Force is pleased to provide our bimonthly newsletter summarizing some of the most important and interesting developments from state attorneys general across the country and...more
Over the past several months, antitrust enforcement activity in the healthcare provider sector has continued to steadily increase. In Part I of this two-part update, we discussed recent lawsuits involving private equity...more
Big changes to California’s state antitrust law, called the Cartwright Act, may be in the works. These changes, if enacted, would represent a significant departure from current antitrust law, prohibiting otherwise lawful...more
On March 6, 2024, Paula Blizzard, the California Department of Justice’s antitrust chief, announced on a panel at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime that the California Attorney General’s...more
The "Birkin" name is well known around the world – it is synonymous with exclusivity and high-end luxury. From storylines in "Sex and the City" and "Gilmore Girls" to mentions in lyrics from the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé,...more
California Senior Assistant Attorney General Paula Blizzard announced that the California AG’s office will “reinvigorate” its dormant criminal enforcement of the Cartwright Act. For more than a century, California’s...more
On March 6, the California Department of Justice’s (California DOJ) Antitrust Chief Paula Blizzard, announced at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime that her office is planning to...more
In the latest development signaling California’s increasing efforts to police antitrust violations, on March 6, 2024, Senior Assistant Attorney General Paula Blizzard announced that the California Office of the Attorney...more
Antitrust and tech is in the legal news almost daily, and often multiple times a day. Here are a few recent developments with notable implications that may have flown under the radar: 1) renewed focus on gig economy issues;...more
On August 3, 2022, eleven suspended PGA Tour members filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (the “Court”) against PGA Tour, Inc. (the “Tour”), alleging violation of...more
A bipartisan group of 35 AGs, led by Utah AG Sean Reyes, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Epic Games, Inc. v Apple, Inc., Nos. 21-16506 & 21-16695, in support of Epic’s position that...more
Many recent no-poach agreement antitrust claims have risen within the franchise context, where the alleged agreement was plainly described in the operative franchise agreements. In those cases, the parties fought over what...more
The Ninth Circuit has held that a putative class of nationwide consumers that brought damages claims under California law was erroneously certified. Until now, class actions asserting claims for plaintiffs across the country...more
Here are last week’s curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: Not Just Fun and Games: Angry Birds Allegedly...more
California AG Rob Bonta and healthcare system Sutter Health (“Sutter”) gained the final approval of a California state judge for their settlement agreement, which resolves allegations that Sutter employed anticompetitive...more
The battle between the Writers Guild of America and the major agencies has been waged on two fronts for over a year, with mixed results. Attention recently has focused primarily on the WGA’s pressure campaign to require...more
Business-to-business contracts often concern trade secrets. Contracts such as NDAs, joint development agreements, license agreements, vendor agreements, and other commercial agreements commonly contain restrictive covenants...more
Called upon by the Ninth Circuit in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc. to answer two key questions concerning the validity of a settlement provision requiring a party’s termination of a collaboration agreement with a...more
In Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., S256927, 2020 WL 4432623 (Cal. Aug. 3, 2020) (“Ixchel Pharma”), the Supreme Court of California clarified two points: (1) that to state a claim for interference with an at-will contract...more
In Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., the court addresses “an important question of California law, potentially affecting all contracts in California that in some way restrain a contracting party from engaging in a...more
The California Supreme Court in the 2008 case, Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP, ruled that a provision in an employment agreement that prevented an employee from competing with his former employer following the termination of...more
The most powerful tool capable of invalidating competitive restraints under California law is Business and Professions Code section 16600. That statute states that “[e]very contract by which anyone is restrained from...more
Another blow was struck in the litigation between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the top three talent agencies. In April, the agencies prevailed in their motion to dismiss eight of the nine claims asserted against...more