Federal and state laws prohibit anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices that harm other businesses and consumers. Examples of these unlawful, anti-competitive practices include:

• Price fixing - an agreement among competitors to raise, fix, or otherwise maintain the price at which their goods or services are sold;


• Bid-rigging - competitors agree in advance who will submit the winning bid on a contract being let through the competitive bidding process. As with price fixing, it is not necessary that all bidders participate in the conspiracy;


• Monopolization - one or more persons or companies totally dominates an economic market;


• Unfair competition - an attempt to gain unfair competitive advantage through false, fraudulent, or unethical commercial conduct;


• Market Division - an agreement between competitors not to compete within each other's geographic territories.

Girard Gibbs is presently prosecuting several nationwide class action lawsuits for violations of federal and state antitrust and unfair competition laws, including:

In Re Nexium Antitrust Litigation - Representing direct and third-party purchasers of Nexium in a multi-district class action alleging anticompetitive "pay-for-delay" agreements by drug manufacturer AstraZeneca.

In Re Online Travel Agent and Hotel Antitrust Litigation - Representing purchasers of online hotel reservations in a multi-district class action alleging illegal rate parity agreements between major hotel chains and online travel agents. 

In Re Lithium Ion Rechargeable Batteries Antitrust Litigation - Representing consumers and direct purchasers in a class action alleging price fixing by lithium ion battery manufacturers. 

In Re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation - Representing direct purchasers in a multi-district class action alleging price-fixing by foreign and domestic manufacturers of Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) products.

In Re California Title Insurance Antitrust Litigation - Representing purchasers of title insurance in a coordinated class action alleging unfair business practices in California title insurance market.

In Re Fretted Musical Instruments and Equipment Litigation - Representing consumers and direct purchasers in multi-district class action alleging price fixing of retail prices of guitars and guitar amplifiers.

In Re Chocolate Confectionary Antitrust Litigation - Representing direct purchasers in multi-district class action alleging price-fixing by foreign and domestic chocolate confection manufacturers.

In Re Flash Memory Antitrust Litigation - Representing indirect purchasers in multi-district class action alleging price-fixing by foreign and domestic manufacturers of flash memory.

In Re International Air Transportation Surcharge Antitrust Litigation - Representing consumers and direct purchasers in multi-district class action alleging fuel surcharge price-fixing by airlines in the transpacific passenger airline market.

In addition, the firm had a leadership role in the In re Natural Gas Anti-Trust Litigation I, II, III, IV, a class action against numerous natural gas companies for manipulating the California natural gas market. The case settled for a total recovery of $160 million.

For more information about our Antitrust practice, contact our antitrust attorneys toll-free at (866) 981-4800.

Girard Gibbs represents consumers, investors, employees, and businesses in cases involving consumer protection, personal injury, securities, antitrust, employment litigation and arbitration. The firm’s senior partners, Daniel Girard and Eric Gibbs, have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 and Northern California Super Lawyers, and have earned AV-Preeminent ratings from Martindale-Hubbell, recognizing them in the highest class of attorneys for professional ethics and legal skills.