PRACTICE AREAS
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Hausfeld LLP’s antitrust experience – pursuing a corporation’s claims through individual representation, class litigation, settlement, negotiation, or trial – is unparalleled.
Experience. No other U.S. law firm can tout as many current leadership positions in antitrust cases on behalf of corporations injured by anticompetitive activity as Hausfeld LLP. Federal courts have trusted us to pursue recovery for victims of antitrust cartels in over twenty (20) cases since 2008. Recognizing the firm’s antitrust prowess, in 2010, Hausfeld LLP was named by “the Legal 500” as one of the top three firms in the United States for mass tort and antitrust class actions (and was the only firm of those three that exclusively specializes in representing corporate victims of cartels), noting that “The ‘outstanding’ Mike Hausfeld, in Washington, DC, is a titan of the antitrust bar and a ‘very creative’ advocate who is the architect behind the firm’s expansion into Europe.” It quoted one client as ranking the firm“the best I have ever worked with”. It also noted that the London office “has not been idle; this year the firm’s offices on both sides of the Atlantic worked on the price-fixing scandal between BA and Virgin Atlantic, and achieved a groundbreaking $200m settlement in the first-ever transatlantic recovery.” Corporations seeking representation for their antitrust claims can trust and rely on Hausfeld LLP’s extensive experience for expert resolution of their claims.
Recognizing Hausfeld LLP’s experience, the firm was also named to the NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL “Plaintiffs’ Hot List.” "Our conclusions are subjective, but show the plaintiffs' bar at its best," the National Law Journal said in its Oct. 4, 2010 issue. “In the past 12 months, these firms have done exemplary, cutting-edge work on the plaintiffs' side,” the National Law Journal also noted. About Hausfeld LLP, the National Law Journal said, “Since its inception in 2008, 23-attorney Hausfeld has quickly positioned itself as a leader in antitrust and class action litigation. Washington-based Chairman Michael Hausfeld's firm has established new frontiers for plaintiffs' legal recovery, while pursuing global cartels and representing victims of apartheid.”
Our attorneys include:
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America;
- Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s International Cartel Task Force;
- Four former law professors;
- Member of the Steering Committee of The Sedona Conference®;
- Founder of the Women Antitrust Plaintiffs’ Attorneys conference;
- Legal Times 2009 “40 under 40” award winner;
- Super Lawyers in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, CA.
Thought Leadership. Hausfeld LLP lawyers have a consistent track record of:
- Leading or participating in the world’s most significant plaintiffs’ private antitrust enforcement actions;
- Leading the policy debate in favor of greater private enforcement of the competiton laws in the US, Europe and globally through innovative and practical solutions; and
- Building a talented team of professionals representing one of the largest plaintiffs’ private antitrust enforcement teams in the U.S. and a dedicated plaintiffs’ team in the UK and Europe.
The Hausfeld firm has also been recognized internationally in the United Kingdom’s LEGAL 500 for Competition firms. There, in the company of Magic Circle firms, LEGAL 500 advised that “Readers should also note that HAUSFELD & CO LLP is making considerable headway in relation to plaintiff follow-on damages actions.” Hausfeld LLP was also named to Global Competition Review’s “International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists 2009.”
Through the firm’s international work over the last several years and London office (Hausfeld & Co. LLP), Hausfeld LLP offers distinctive advantages to our U.S. practice, advantages that few other U.S. or European practices offer, all under one roof. Hausfeld LLP is currently pursuing seven follow-on cartel damages actions in the London courts and one such action in the Dutch courts on behalf of hundreds of corporate clients located on multiple continents, including several among the Fortune Global 500, Forbes Global 2000, and Business Week and Interbrand 100 Best Global Brands. Hausfeld’s intellectual and capital investments have resulted in groundbreaking settlements for the benefit of non-US claimants, including Air Passenger ($200 million first-ever transatlantic settlement with BA/Virgin Atlantic for the benefit of U.S. and non-U.S. claimants) and Marine Hose (landmark global settlement with cartelist Parker ITR representing the first private resolution of a company’s worldwide cartel liability without any arbitration, mediation or litigation), as well as private European settlements for individual corporate clients who were cartel victims.
Clients injured by antitrust cartels or other anticompetitive acts rely on Hausfeld LLP for our antitrust knowledge and our track record of success in the courtroom and at the negotiation table. Our clients receive the full benefit of our depth of experience, creativity, leadership and reputation at trial or in negotiations.
Cases and Current Investigations
» Aftermarket Automotive Lighting
» Air Cargo
» Air Passenger
» Alaskan Shipping
» Auction Rate Securities (ARS)
» Blood Reagents
» Chocolate
» Chuck D. v. Universal Music Group
» Compressors
» CRTs
» Eggs
» Endo (Trocars)
» Flash
» Flat Glass (II)/Construction Glass
» In re Food Service Equipment Hardware Antitrust Litigation
» Korean Air
» Labelstock
» LCDs
» Marine Hose
» Municipal Derivatives
» NCAA
» NFL
» Optical Disc Drives
» Paraffin Wax
» Parcel Tankers
» Polyurethane Foam
» Publication Paper
» Rail Freight
» Taq
» Tomatoes
» Transpacific
» Vitamin C
» Vitamins
Successes
Hausfeld LLP recently announced a groundbreaking global settlement agreement with Parker ITR regarding its involvement in the marine hose cartel. The settlement allows any purchaser of marine hose from Parker ITR anywhere in the world, other than direct purchasers of marine hose in US commerce, to claim compensation in respect of losses arising from the cartel, irrespective of where they reside or where the marine hose was purchased. This represents the first time a commercial, non court-based agreement of this type has been reached in respect of a global cartel, and it provides an entirely new model for global cartel settlements going forward. See www.marinehoseclaims.com.
Due to the work of Hausfeld LLP lawyers, their former firm was listed in the “mass tort and class actions” section of the 2008 edition of the US Legal 500 publication as one of the top antitrust plaintiffs’ firm in the US. Legal 500 commented that: “The ‘outstanding’ Mike Hausfeld, in Washington, DC, is a titan of the antitrust bar and a ‘very creative’ advocate who is the architect behind the firm’s expansion into Europe and leads the team in the municipal derivatives case.” In particular, Legal 500 noted that Hausfeld LLP’s London office (formerly with the prior firm), “has not been idle; this year the firm’s offices on both sides of the Atlantic worked on the price-fixing scandal between BA and Virgin Atlantic, and achieved a ground-breaking $200m settlement in the first-ever transatlantic recovery.”
Hausfeld LLP is serving as Lead Counsel having special responsibility for non-US claims in the Air Cargo Antitrust Litigation on behalf of air freight customers against a group of international flagship airlines for fixing prices on air freight shipping. This case has already resulted in a landmark $85 million settlement with Lufthansa. The settlement will result in thousands of European businesses recovering damages for infringements of both US antitrust and EU competition law. Michael Hausfeld was the architect and lead settlement negotiator for the claimants. Furthermore, Hauseld LLP's London arm Hausfeld & Co. LLP is pursuing claims on behalf of non-US purchasers in London against British Airways.
Hausfeld LLP is serving as Co-Lead Counsel in the Air Passenger Antitrust Litigation on behalf of thousands of air travellers around the world against British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways for fixing prices of air passenger transportation to and from the UK to all long-haul destinations in the world. Hausfeld LLP lawyers secured the first recovery for foreign citizens based on foreign antitrust law in a US antitrust case. European citizens and businesses will be significant beneficiaries of this settlement that provides equal compensation for both domestic and foreign air passengers.
In 2007, Legal 500 commented that Hausfeld LLP's former firm is “[a]dmired and envied in equal measure . . . [as they] cut[] a formidable figure in the antitrust litigation arena and has set the bar for plaintiffs’ firms around the country.”
On February 14, 2007, due in large part to the work of Hausfeld LLP attorneys, Competition Law 360 recorded their former firm as the most in-demand plaintiffs’ antitrust practice last year according to its survey of the 300 largest firms in the US. CMHT was ranked on the basis of the number of new cases in which it acted in 2006. It took on 96 new cases, while its nearest competitor took on 34 new cases. Competition Law 360 stated that their former firm’s success “was likely due in no small part to [its] broad net, with the firm dipping its toes into many of the hottest litigation areas.” Many of these cases are now being litigated by Hausfeld LLP.
Michael Hausfeld was the only US plaintiff’s lawyer expressly invited by the European Commission’s DG Competition to comment on its EC Antitrust Damages Actions Green Paper of March 28, 2006 and he responded to the OFT’s White Paper on private damages actions for competition law infringement. Michael Hausfeld was also invited to speak at the OFT’s consultation meeting on September 24, 2007.
On July 10, 2007, in the case of Diamond Chemical Company, Inc. v. Akzo Nobel Chemicals B.V. et al., a U.S. federal judge in Washington, DC granted the motion by Hausfeld LLP lawyers to award $5.1 million in undistributed settlement funds to The George Washington University Law School to endow a Center for Competition Law. The cy pres award resulted from a successful antitrust lawsuit brought by Hausfeld LLP lawyers on behalf of a plaintiff class harmed by an international anticompetitive conspiracy to fix prices for the sale of sodium monochloroacetate and monochloroacetic acid in the United States and elsewhere. This is a novel resolution in the face of increasing global trade as ill-gotten cartel profits will be used to study and recommend improvements to global private anti-cartel enforcement.
Michael Hausfeld was the only plaintiff’s lawyer to appear before the European Commission in 2002 on behalf of European consumers in the Microsoft matter.
Hausfeld LLP lawyers successfully litigated and settled foreign claims in the case of Kruman v. Christie’s International PLC. et al., marking the first time that non-US claimants as a class received compensation for violation of competition laws (the fixing of auction commissions) – a milestone in both US antitrust jurisprudence and European recovery.
In the landmark case of Empagran v. F. Hoffman LaRoche, Inc., et al., Hausfeld LLP lawyers represented foreign purchasers in U.S. federal court to recover the billions of dollars in overcharges that resulted from a global conspiracy to fix vitamin prices and allocate market share. This case was litigated by Hausfeld LLP lawyers all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which delivered a ground breaking judgment on US Sherman Act jurisdiction. The scope of the jurisdiction was defined and confirmed that intertwined US and non-US claims against worldwide cartels may continue to be brought in the US courts. This case was designated as the “Matter of the Year” by the Global Competition Review.
