Antitrust Law Source

Jay L. Levine

Photo of Jay L. Levine

Jay Levine is a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. Litigation Department. His practice is concentrated in complex litigation and counseling and he is co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group. He is also the managing editor of the firm’s innovative Antitrust Law Source blog and host of its podcast, as well editor of the firm’s Food And Agriculture Quarterly.

Subscribe to all posts by Jay L. Levine

Are data breaches covered under insurance policies?

By Jay L. Levine on Categories: Health Care, Privacy & Data Security
In defending against a class action case where patient information was found online for months without being secured, the insurance company was found to have a duty to defend the defendant, who held an insurance policy that covered the publication of patient information. The case, Travelers Indemnity vs. Portal Healthcare, is important because it’s one … Continue Reading

Supreme Court refuses to deny use of “representative evidence” to certify a class

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Civil Litigation
Faced with what defense lawyers hoped would be another arrow in their quiver to fight class certification, the Supreme Court refused to slam the door on the use of “representative evidence” in proving predominance under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3). Instead it held that, in certain cases, “representative evidence” – evidence representative of a … Continue Reading

FTC revises HSR and interlocking directorate thresholds

By Jay L. Levine on Categories: ABC's of Antitrust
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the notification thresholds for filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR), as well as certain other values under the HSR rules. As background, the HSR Act requires that acquisitions of voting securities or assets that exceed certain thresholds be disclosed to U.S. … Continue Reading

Health care data breaches – inevitable, but you can minimize the damage

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Consumer Protection, Health Care, Privacy & Data Security
Data breaches in health care can be the most devastating, both to the consumers whose personally identifiable information was exposed, but also to the institutions that possessed this sensitive data. In this podcast Jay and Christina Hultsch review the various issues surrounding such data breaches, including when to review data security policies, how to prepare … Continue Reading

FTC chief administrative law judge: No harm, no foul

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Consumer Protection, Privacy & Data Security
In a long awaited decision, the FTC’s chief administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled against FTC staff and held that LabMD did not violate Section 5 of the FTC Act by not reasonably securing customer data. The basis for the decision was that staff could not prove that customers would suffer “substantial injury” from LabMD’s data … Continue Reading

Is the use of statistical averages appropriate when certifying a Rule 23(b)(3) damages class?

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Civil Litigation
Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo is the latest in a series of cases to go before the Supreme Court on issues pertaining to the proper adjudication of class actions. Oral argument was heard on Nov. 10 and Jay and Porter Wright colleague Jetta Sandin attended. In this podcast, they share their impressions of how the … Continue Reading

Third Circuit’s Wyndham decision – Part one

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Consumer Protection, Privacy & Data Security
In part one of this two part series, Jay is joined by Ryan Graham, a colleague at Porter Wright and former FBI analyst, to discuss the Third Circuit’s decision in FTC vs. Wyndham. Ryan and Jay discuss generally the various agencies who have authority over data security and the challenges facing companies who have experienced … Continue Reading

More insights into Amazon …

By Jay L. Levine on Categories: ABC's of Antitrust, Antitrust & Intellectual Property, Technology
I recently spoke with Zosha Millman  of LXBN  for her recent post Is Amazon Opening Another Confusing Antitrust Door with Its New Sale Ban? As you can imagine, Amazon’s recent move to cease offering Apple or Google streaming devices has left many consumers a bit, shall we say “primed”.  Check out Zosha’s article for more details… one … Continue Reading

Government licensure for the personal training industry – unnecessary, unworkable and unintelligible

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Civil Government Enforcement, Consumer Protection, Criminal Government Enforcement
A campaign to require licensure in the personal training industry by the U.S. Registry of Exercise Professionals has left some scratching their heads. Six states have considered licensure laws that, through criminal liability, would forbid providing personal training services without a license. In 2013, Washington, D.C. passed legislation authorizing the D.C. Board of Physical Therapy … Continue Reading

Let the antitrust battles begin… State licensures of professional services: A look at personal training

By Jay L. Levine on Categories: Civil Government Enforcement, Consumer Protection, Criminal Government Enforcement
With the explosion of personal services industries, many states are seeking to enact new professional licensing and regulation in many industries. From healthcare to eyebrow threading to personal training, states are considering who can practice and what type of training is necessary.  Porter Wright’s Brodie Butland, B.Sc., Starting Strength coach shares his recent Starting Strength … Continue Reading

FTC Breaks 100-Year Silence and Issues “Statement of Enforcement Principles”

By Jay L. Levine and Allen Carter on Categories: ABC's of Antitrust, Consumer Protection
On August 13, the FTC issued its “Statement of Enforcement Principles Regarding ‘Unfair Methods of Competition’ Under Section 5 of the FTC Act.” The 1-page policy statement provides a general framework for the Commission’s exercise of its “standalone” Section 5 authority to fight anticompetitive acts or practices. A bit of context might help to understand … Continue Reading

Managing post-data breach litigation just got harder

By Jay L. Levine on Categories: Civil Litigation, Consumer Protection, Privacy & Data Security, Retail
Data breaches are messy stuff, no doubt about that. They consume a huge amount of corporate resources, damage a company’s goodwill and can cost a lot of money. No real news there. And while the technological challenges in preventing, and responding to, data breaches are ever-changing – fueling the booming cybersecurity industry – the corporate … Continue Reading

Antitrust Probe of Movie Theater Chains Enters Next Act

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: ABC's of Antitrust, Civil Government Enforcement
The U.S. Department of Justice has turned its spotlight on AMC Entertainment, Inc. in the government’s antitrust probe of the nation’s movie theater industry.  In an 8-K filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AMC announced that it has received a civil subpoena from the DOJ seeking information and documents relating to AMC’s involvement … Continue Reading

World’s top banks plead guilty to gaming foreign-currency markets

By Jay L. Levine on Categories: Criminal Government Enforcement, International
Our colleagues at  Federal Securities Law Blog report that four of the world’s largest banks — Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland — have pleaded guilty to federal antitrust violations for conspiring to manipulate foreign-currency markets. Under the plea agreements, the banks have agreed to be placed on probation and pay criminal fines … Continue Reading

Ascertainability is different from other class action elements …seriously, we aren’t joking

By Jay L. Levine and Porter Wright on Categories: Consumer Protection, Privacy & Data Security, Retail, Technology
A little over a year ago we wrote to discuss the FTC’s Order against Aaron’s, one of the country’s largest rent-to-own (“RTO”) stores, charging that its franchisees were spying on its customers.  Well, the inevitable follow-on class actions were filed and recently, in Byrd v. Aaron’s Inc., — F.3d –, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 6190 … Continue Reading

Supreme Court to states – actively supervise your regulating boards or else

By Darcy Jalandoni and Jay L. Levine on Categories: Consumer Protection, Health Care
The North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners can no longer regulate the practice of dentistry without active state supervision—and neither can other state professional boards controlled by active market participants. Last Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the state action … Continue Reading
LexBlog