Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The dental association with a membership of more than 1800 dentists practicing in Puerto Rico agreed not to encourage its members to enter into agreements that set or fixed the fees charged or terms and conditions under which dentists would deal with health insurance plans or other payers in an attempt to obtain higher reimbursement rates for dental services.

A consent order requires Ceridian to grant licenses to new and existing firms that provide commercial credit cards (known as "trucking fleet-cards") used by over-the-road trucking companies to make purchases at retail locations. The order settles charges that Ceridian's consummated acquisitions of NTS Corporation and Trendar Corporation gave Ceridian the power to control the markets for the provision of trucking fleet cards and the systems used to read them at truck stops throughout the country.

A consent order settled charges that Fidelity’s acquisition of Chicago Title Corporation would reduce competition for title information services in San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Napa, Merced, Yolo, and San Benito, California. The order requires the divestiture of title plants in each of the six areas.

VNU N.V. settled antitrust concerns that its proposed acquisition of Nielsen Media Research, Inc. would restrict competition in the market for advertising expenditure measurement services in the United States. The order requires VNU to divest its Competitive Media Reporting division, the nation's largest supplier in the specialized market.

The Commission authorized a preliminary injunction action in federal court alleging that Kroger's proposed acquisition of 74 Winn-Dixie supermarkets in would substantially lessen competition in several markets near and in Fort Worth, Texas.  The parties soonafter abandoned their merger plans.

Abbott and Geneva Pharmaceuticals settled charges that the two firms entered into an illegal agreement to stop the marketing and development of a competing generic drug. According to the complaint, Abbott, manufacturer of Hytrin – the brand name for terazosin HCL, a prescription drug used to treat hypertension and benign prostatic hyperplasia, entered into an agreement with Geneva Pharmaceuticals whereby Abbott would pay Geneva millions of dollars not to market a generic version of Hytrin. The orders bars Abbott and Geneva, among other things, from entering into agreements in which a generic company agrees with a manufacturer of a branded drug to delay or stop the production of a competing drug.