Counsel for a leading U.S. manufacturer of medical devices retained Dr. Michael Keeley, a senior vice president of Cornerstone Research, to address class certification issues in an antitrust case brought against the company by plaintiffs seeking to represent a class of direct purchasers.
Counsel for a leading U.S. manufacturer of medical devices retained Dr. Michael Keeley, a senior vice president of Cornerstone Research, to address class certification issues in an antitrust case brought against the company by plaintiffs seeking to represent a class of direct purchasers. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant had employed bundled discounts to leverage a supposed monopoly position in the market for one type of device in order to monopolize the market for another medical device. The plaintiffs claimed that the bundled discounts foreclosed competition for the second device and caused each purchaser to pay more for the second device than it would have absent the bundled discounts.
Dr. Keeley showed that the plaintiffs’ bundling claims involved an inherent contradiction.
Dr. Keeley showed that the plaintiffs’ bundling claims involved an inherent contradiction: that the alleged conduct could result in overcharges to customers while at the same time leading to price discounts that competitors could not match, thereby foreclosing competition. Dr. Keeley also analyzed detailed customer data to show that discounts varied dramatically from customer to customer because of variation in their purchasing decisions, their success in negotiating, their desire for price discounts versus other non-price considerations, and their need for customization. Thus, whether proposed class members were injured, and if so, the extent of their injuries, depended on individual factors and could not be determined using common evidence.
