Duane Morris LLP is pleased to announce that Chambers USA has recognized Duane Morris’ Antitrust Division and attorneys.
Here’s what clients are saying about our antitrust attorneys:
Edward G. Biester III: Antitrust
Sean P. McConnell: Antitrust
By Driscoll R. Ugarte, Sean P. McConnell and Taylor Hertzler
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division filed a proposed settlement in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to resolve claims against Agri Stats Inc. for unlawful information sharing among the nation’s largest meat processors. The settlement aims to dismantle what the government alleges was a decadeslong practice of exchanging competitively sensitive pricing, output and cost data among rival broiler chicken, pork and turkey processors. Stakeholders across the agricultural supply chain—from poultry integrators and hog producers to livestock feed companies and meat buyers—should take note of this enforcement action, which may signal heightened DOJ scrutiny of data-sharing arrangements in the animal agriculture sector.
State legislatures are increasingly active in reshaping healthcare markets, with 2025 marking a particularly aggressive year for legislative action. Across many jurisdictions, new laws expand premerger visibility into healthcare deals, require greater ownership and affiliation transparency, restrict private equity and management service organization involvement in clinical enterprises, recalibrate certificate‑of‑need (CON) frameworks and curb post‑employment noncompete for physicians and other clinicians. Several measures also address patient‑facing transparency and communications. While federal scrutiny of healthcare transactions and practices remains significant, new state legislation is presenting most immediate changes to deal planning, governance and employment structures. Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris website.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
