F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A. (D.C. Circuit) (U.S. Supreme Court)
A number of foreign purchasers of vitamins brought a class action alleging a global conspiracy involving our client, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, to raise the price of vitamins. They alleged that the conspiracy took place through price-setting for vitamins in overseas markets. A panel of the D.C. Circuit initially held that the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act (FTAIA) did not bar plaintiffs claims. We represented F. Hoffmann-La Roche in a successful appeal of the decision before the Supreme Court and before the D.C. Circuit on remand . The Supreme Court held that the FTAIA barred claims where the adverse foreign effect of anticompetitive was independent of any adverse domestic effect. On remand, the D.C. Circuit held that plaintiffs had failed to sufficiently allege that the domestic effects of the purported antitrust conspiracy gave rise to their foreign injuries.