The California Legislature is currently considering a bill that would substantially expand the scope and enforcement mechanisms of California’s antitrust regime. On January 30, 2026, the California Law Revision Commission officially approved a final legislative proposal to broaden the state’s antitrust statute, the Cartwright Act, to include single-firm conduct and to allow state enforcers to go beyond the federal Sherman Act. While the bill, AB 1776, remains under consideration in the state Legislature, it reflects a broader trend toward more aggressive antitrust regulation and enforcement at the state level, both in California and nationally. Read the Alert on the Duane Morris LLP website.
Read the Duane Morris Antitrust Class Action Review 2026
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer A. Riley and Sean McConnell
Class action litigation involving antitrust claims had several key developments in 2025, despite a relative lack of actual verdicts. Because antitrust remedies often allow recovery of treble damages, the incentive to settle these cases is often paramount. Additionally, plaintiffs are entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees that may be substantial because of the complexity of this kind of litigation. As a result, most antitrust class actions are settled before trial, and one of the most crucial phases in these cases is class certification. Thus, the order granting or denying a motion to certify a class in these cases is critical.
Click here to bookmark or download a copy of the Antitrust Class Action Review – 2026 e-book.
Federal Court Vacates FTC’s Expanded Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Requirements
By Sean P. McConnell, Katherine Speegle, Sarah O’Laughlin Kulik and Brian H. Pandya
On February 12, 2026, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the FTC’s 2024 rule that substantially expanded premerger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al., v. Federal Trade Commission. The decision is an important development for companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions, as it potentially invalidates requirements that have nearly tripled the time and expense associated with HSR filings.
Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris LLP website.
Major Multistate Cannabis Operators Face First-of-Their-Kind Antitrust Claims
By Sean P. McConnell, Wayne A. Mack, Christopher H. Casey, Paul P. Josephson, Tracy Gallegos, Michael D. Schwamm, and James Hearon
The Ohio attorney general recently filed an unprecedented state antitrust enforcement action against nine of the nation’s largest multistate cannabis operators. The complaint alleges these defendants formed illegal cartels through reciprocal supply agreements, competitively sensitive information exchanges and discriminatory distribution practices designed to exclude independent Ohio cannabis operators from the market and artificially inflate consumer prices. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, civil forfeitures of $500 per day per defendant for each day the alleged combinations were in effect, and attorneys’ fees.
Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris LLP website
NASCAR & Racing Teams Settle Antitrust Dispute
On December 11, 2025, NASCAR settled an ongoing and closely watched antitrust trial brought by two racing teams, 23XI Racing (co-owned by Michael Jordan) and Front Row Motorsports, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The settlement was announced after the plaintiffs had presented their case-in-chief and following testimony from several high-profile witnesses, including Jordan. The financial terms of the settlement have not been publicly disclosed, but the agreement aims to provide a more equitable business framework for teams in the sport.
FTC Fails to Establish That Social Media Company Has Monopoly Power
On November 18, 2025, after five years of litigation, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered judgment in favor of Meta and against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its lawsuit alleging that Meta held and illegally maintained monopoly power in personal social networking through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The decision followed a six-week bench trial that included testimony from high-ranking Meta executives, including Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.
State AGs Move to Intervene in Federal Oversight of DOJ’s $14 Billion Merger Agreement
On October 14, 2025, a coalition of 13 state attorneys general, including those from California, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois, filed a motion seeking to intervene in the Tunney Act review by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) settlement that allowed the $14 billion merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks to proceed.
Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris website.
FTC Abandons Appeals of Decisions Striking Down Its Noncompete Rule, but Restrictive Covenants Remain an Enforcement Priority
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has formally abandoned its appeals in Ryan, LLC v. FTC (5th Cir.) and Properties of the Villages v. FTC (11th Cir.), effectively conceding the vacatur of its proposed nationwide ban on noncompete agreements. While this decision confirms that the FTC’s sweeping noncompete rule will not take effect, employers should not interpret the move as a retreat from scrutiny of post-employment restrictive covenants. On the contrary, recent enforcement actions and policy initiatives suggest that the FTC will continue to pursue noncompetes and similar labor market restrictive covenants through alternative strategies. Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris website.
Mitigating the Risk of AI Pricing Tool Noncompliance with FTC Act
Duane Morris special counsel Justin Donoho authored the Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law article, “Ten Design Guidelines to Mitigate the Risk of AI Pricing Tool Noncompliance with the Federal Trade Commission Act, Sherman Act, and Colorado AI Act.” The article is available here and is a must-read for corporate counsel involved with development or deployment of AI pricing tools.
DOJ Antitrust Division Offers New Incentives for Reporting Antitrust Violations
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has officially launched its first-ever Whistleblower Rewards Program through a memorandum of understanding with the United States Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. This new program offers monetary rewards of up to 30 percent of criminal fines recovered for individuals who provide information leading to successful antitrust prosecutions of at least $1 million in fines. Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris LLP website.