On Tuesday, Public Citizen Litigation Group filed amicus briefs in two United States Supreme Court cases of critical importance to consumers and anyone else concerned with our legal system's ability to hold corporations accountable for wrongful conduct.
American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant
American Express seeks to enforce an arbitration agreement that prohibits merchants that accept its charge cards from filing class actions or otherwise sharing the cost of legal proceedings against it. The merchants are attempting to hold American Express liable for a tying arrangement that violates the antitrust laws (American Express insists that they accept its unpopular credit cards if they want to accept its popular charge cards), but because expensive expert testimony is required to prove the claims, the cost of arbitrating an individual case would dwarf any possible recovery.
Public Citizen's amicus brief argues that arbitration agreements that actually prevent arbitration by making it impossible to assert statutory rights are not enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act.
FTC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals
This case involves whether brand-name drug manufacturers can, under the antitrust laws, buy off potential generic competitors by paying them a portion of the brand-name manufacturers' monopoly profits to stay out of the market. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act facilitate generic competition by speeding the ability of generic manufacturers to get approval of drugs from the FDA, but that goal is thwarted if the brand-name manufacturer can buy off the competition.
Filed on behalf of U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), the co-sponsor of the legislation that has promoted competition in the drug industry, our amicus brief argues that not applying stringent antitrust scrutiny to anticompetitive deals between brand-name and generic drug manufacturers undermines the purposes of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments.
These are just the latest examples of our ongoing efforts, in the Supreme Court and throughout our legal system, to preserve effective remedies against corporate wrongdoers and protect consumer interests.
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Sincerely,
Allison M. Zieve
Director, Public Citizen Litigation Group
