applEcon Partner Josh Palmer to participate in the CLA webinar titled Antitrust Economics – Fundamental Concepts Practitioners Need to Know on January 28, 2020 at 12:00pm.
Event: Webinar: Antitrust Economics – Fundamental Concepts Practitioners Need to Know
Date & Time: Tuesday, January 28, 2020, at 12:00 ET
Moderator: Elizabeth Tran Castillo
Speakers:
applEcon Partner Janet S. Netz to participate in American Bar Association panel to discuss how the recent decision in Apple v. Pepper will impact the future viability of Illinois Brick.
Event: Apple v. Pepper: SCOTUS Clarifies Application of Illinois Brick
Date & Time: Friday, May 24, 2019, at 12:00 ET
Host: American Bar Association
Moderator: Max Miller, Office of the Attorney General of Iowa
Panelists:
Dr. Janet Netz and applEcon have assisted counsel representing indirect end payors of auto parts in the recovery of $1.04 billion in settlements to date. applEcon began work in 2012 on In re Automotive Wire Harness Systems Antitrust Litigation. Subsequently, applEcon has worked on In re Occupant Safety Systems, In re Heater Control Panels, In re Anti-Vibrational Rubber Parts, In re Bearings, and related cases, which have been consolidated as In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation.
applEcon is working with counsel that represent the end purchaser payors class, including Cotchett, Pitre, & McCarthy LLP; Robins Kaplan LLP; and Susman Godfrey LLP. applEcon continues to assist counsel in all aspects of this litigation, including defendant and third-party discovery, liability, damages, and settlement. The complexity of these cases has required significant fact research as well as considerable data understanding and processing by applEcon.
Wire harnesses, bearings, heater control panels, occupant safety systems, and anti-vibrational rubber parts are all part of an alleged massive global price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy among automotive parts manufacturers involving approximately 40 different types of parts and more than 160 defendants.
Defendants’ alleged conduct effectively raised prices of the at-issue automotive parts, which were components of vehicles purchased and leased by U.S. consumers. The automotive parts litigation is one of the most complicated set of antitrust class action cases in U.S. history, and the cumulative settlement amount to date represents one of the largest antitrust recoveries secured on behalf of end payors in U.S. history.
For further information on In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation:
“Settlements in Landmark Auto Parts Litigation Surpass $1 Billion”, Business Wire, 28 February 2018
In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation Class Website, autopartsclass.com, 18 September 2018
applEcon is pleased to announce the affiliation of two new experts, Ralph Siebert and Edward D. Rothman, further expanding the range of services and expertise we provide to our clients.
Ralph Siebert, Ph.D.
Ralph Siebert is Professor of Economics at Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, Director of the Master’s Economics program at Purdue University, and a Research fellow at CESifo in Munich, Germany. Since 2013, Professor Siebert also teaches MBA classes at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. Professor Siebert works in the areas of industrial organization, applied microeconometrics, urban economics, health economics, and experimental economics. Most of his research is grounded in the interface between applied theory and empirical testing, i.e., structural modeling, while other studies relate to estimating reduced-form regressions. The large majority of his empirical work builds on theory that provides insights into counterfactuals, as well as underlying effects that drive the results. Professor Siebert received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany and his B.A. from Free University in Berlin, Germany. Professor Siebert was an Adjunct Research Fellow at Harvard and Yale University, CESifo, European School of Management and Technology, GISMA, MLU Munich, Social Science Research Center (WZB) in Berlin, University of Barcelona, and University of Toronto.
Edward D. Rothman, Ph.D.
Edward D. Rothman is Professor Emeritus of Statistics at the University of Michigan and brings broad expertise in his field as well as many years of litigation consulting experience. Professor Rothman taught statistics for 47 years and served as adjunct faculty in the Department of Economics at the University of Michigan. Professor Rothman has been engaged in litigation support involving statistical matters primarily related to employment discrimination, product reliability, general litigation, and issues related to the Clean Air Act for many years. He has always been accepted as an expert witness in both Federal and state courts. Professor Rothman also has extensive consulting experience in quality improvement, with a specialization in health care organizations. Professor Rothman received his Ph.D. in Statistics with a minor in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and his B.S. in Mathematics from McGill University.
Recently, the Hanover Shoe and Illinois Brick proscriptions of raising pass-through issues under Federal antitrust law have been under pressure. The Antitrust Modernization Committee Report has recommended that the Illinois Brick rule be abolished, and DOJ antitrust head Makan Delrahim has suggested that Apple v. Pepper before the Supreme Court might open the door to overturning Illinois Brick.
Dr. Janet Netz participated in the ABA’s Antitrust, UCL, & Privacy Law Section’s program, “Will Apple’s App Store Lead to the end of Illinois Brick? Pepper v. Apple and calls for a new antitrust damage regime,” on Thursday, July 26, 2018, in San Francisco. The panel consisted of attorneys from the plaintiffs’ and defense bars and the Deputy Attorney General in the Antitrust Section of the California Attorney General’s Office. Dr. Netz discussed the economics of estimating pass-through rates and the economic feasibility of overturning Illinois Brick’s prohibition of indirect purchasers bringing antitrust cases under federal antitrust law. Dr. Netz has testified in numerous antitrust cases on behalf of indirect purchasers under repealer states’ antitrust laws, as well as in Canada, empirically estimating pass-through in a variety of industries. Based on scholarly advances in the study of pass-through, including advances in data availability and computing power, Dr. Netz feels that it is quite feasible to estimate the portion of an overcharge borne by each level of the distribution chain in most circumstances, contrary to the situation when Hanover Shoe and Illinois Brick were promulgated. She also discussed the complications of overturning Illinois Brick in light of forty years of case law rather than establishing a regime de novo.
A Texas jury found unanimously that General Electric (“GE”) violated federal antitrust law by engaging in anticompetitive conduct affecting sales of refurbished anesthesia machines and the servicing of all GE anesthesia machines. It awarded actual damages of $43,083,344 to the plaintiffs—17 independent service organizations (“ISOs”) who compete with GE’s anesthesia sales and servicing businesses. Under the Clayton Act, damages are automatically trebled, bringing the total recovery to $131.4 million. Due to the complexity of this case, plaintiffs hired applEcon to assist their expert economist, Dr. Donald R. House, Sr., and his firm, RRC, Inc. With the help of Dr. House and the two consulting firms, plaintiffs were able to show that GE, the largest manufacturer of anesthesia machines in the U.S., illegally harmed competition by denying factory training to ISO technicians and by designating a distributor, Alpha Source, Inc., to be exclusive supplier of GE anesthesia machine replacement parts for ISOs beginning in 2011, thereby raising costs and delaying shipments.
applEcon is pleased to announce that Brian Rosewarne has been named the Managing Partner of the firm. He has been at applEcon since 2002, most recently as Senior Economist and Case Manager. Mr. Rosewarne will lead applEcon’s continuing controlled growth, developing new relationships with testifying experts and client firms.
Mr. Rosewarne’s consulting experience covers a wide range of industries, including most recently computer hardware and software, LCD panels, and cathode ray tube (CRTs). He has extensive experience measuring the pass-through of direct overcharges to indirect purchasers as well as data analysis for measuring direct overcharges and calculating damages. Mr. Rosewarne also directs applEcon’s discovery and document management efforts, oversees the research staff, and coordinates with counsel and clients on project management.
Mr. Rosewarne succeeds John Metzler, who has been the Managing Partner since 2007. Mr. Metzler will remain at the firm as a Senior Economist and Partner, specializing in liability analysis.
applEcon is a boutique applied economic research firm that evaluates competitive effects of firm conduct in both antitrust and regulatory settings. applEcon provides expert witness support, for either internal or outside experts, and consulting on liability, causation, and damages for consumers and competitors. applEcon was founded in 1989, first working on the Maintenance vs. Prime Computer case. In 1995, applEcon testified on behalf of plaintiffs in Image Technical Services (ITS) vs. Kodak, a precedent-setting case in which the jury found in favor of ITS awarding treble damages. In the early 2000s, applEcon provided all of the economic support for several class action cases against Microsoft, in California, Minnesota, Iowa, and other states resulting in over $1.6 billion face value settlements on behalf of consumers. applEcon also testified in Valassis vs. News America presenting trial testimony proving plaintiff’s claims of anticompetitive conduct, tortious interference, and unfair business practices: the jury awarded Valassis $300 million at the first of three scheduled trials and the case ultimately reached settlements totaling $500 million. More recently applEcon has supported experts testifying on behalf of plaintiffs in global price-fixing cases, including LCDs (resulting in a settlement of $1.1 billion) and CRTs (resulting in a settlement of $563 million). More information about each of these specific cases can be found here. A full list of cases, clients, and law firms with which applEcon has worked can be found here.
applEcon’s success and reputation have been built upon our dedication to thoroughly understanding the facts of the industry in order to conduct the economic analysis and being able to report our conclusions in a clear and concise manner that can be easily understood by legal teams, judges, and juries.
Dr. Netz has been invited to join a group of antitrust experts speaking at the 2016 American Antitrust Institute (AAI) Private Enforcement Conference in Washington DC on November 9, 2016. The conference brings together a host of practitioners — attorneys, economists, academics, and policy makers — to discuss current issues relevant to private antitrust enforcement. In addition to addressing the conference, Dr. Netz is serving on the 2016 judging committee selecting winners for the AAI 2016 Antitrust Enforcement Awards for legal practitioners and economists. Dr. Netz was previously awarded the honor for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Economics for her work in the TFT-LCD Antitrust Litigation. See article here. Dr. Netz will be participating in the panel discussion “The Challenge of Circumstantial Proof of Cartel Behavior and of Presenting Economic Issues and Concepts to Judges and Juries.” The panel will discuss recent developments in the case law regarding the use of economic evidence in cartel cases, with a special focus on the economic evidence used to demonstrate the availability of class-wide proof of impact and damages in price-fixing class actions and to establish the existence of triable issues of fact regarding the existence of collusion at the summary judgment phase. The panel will also discuss the practical considerations regarding the presentation of economic evidence, at the class certification phase, and at trial.
Co-panelists include Joseph Goldberg of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Ives & Duncan, PA and William A. Isaacson of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. The panel will be moderated by Marc Seltzer of Susman Godfrey L.L.P.
The American Antitrust Institute is an education, research, and advocacy organization working to increase the role of competition, assure that competition serves the interests of consumers, and challenge abuses of concentrated economic power in the American and world economy.
News Corp agreed to pay $280MM to settle a lawsuit for monopoly maintenance and related claims brought on behalf of a class of consumer packaged goods companies; applEcon’s Dr. Jeffrey MacKie-Mason was the class’s sole expert economist throughout the case. The products at issue were in-store advertising and promotions sold by third parties; News Corp’s subsidiary News America Marketing is the dominant supplier in this market. News was alleged to have maintained its monopoly by signing retailers to long-term exclusive contracts, staggering termination dates to exclude competitors, overpaying retailers for contracts, and engaging in several torts. To enter the market requires obtaining access to retailers’ shelves for the purpose of placing ads; at least three entrants failed. Dr. MacKie-Mason testified on the relevant market, News’s market power, the exclusionary impact of its conduct, and the amount of overcharge injury suffered by consumer packaged goods companies. News agreed, as part of the settlement, not to sign retailers to contacts longer than 2½ years, unless retailers request such contracts in writing.
For further information on the settlement:
“News Corp Pays Millions to Settle Suit Over In-Store Promotions”, Reuters, 29 February 2016.
By invitation from the American Bar Association, applEcon Expert Dr. Janet S. Netz served as a discussion panelist at the Antitrust Law Spring Meeting on March 26, 2014.
The discussion, presented by Antitrust Magazine and the ABA’s Civil Practice & Procedure Committee, was entitled “Winning or Losing Class Certification Post-Comcast”. Panelists were invited to discuss and debate class-action antitrust law, econometric methods, and analytical standards in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast Corp. V. Behrend. Joining Dr. Netz on the panel were moderator Ian Simmons of O’Melveny & Meyers LLP, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, Bruce L. Simon of Pearson Simon Soter Warshaw & Penny LLP, and Margaret Zwisler of Latham & Watkins LLP.