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In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation
Bates White served as the lead economic experts on the largest price-fixing
case in U.S. history. Our analyses resulted in settlement recoveries known
to be among the largest in U.S. antitrust history.
Working on behalf of class plaintiffs and a group of 140 direct-action
plaintiffs in the vitamins antitrust litigation,
Dr. B. Douglas Bernheim,
Bates White Partner and Professor of Economics at Stanford University,
analyzed whether vitamin prices were elevated substantially as a direct
consequence of defendants’ conspiracy. This conspiracy affected
sales of vitamins including A, C, E, beta-carotene, and the B-complex
vitamins, which are used in nutritional supplements and to enrich human
food and animal feed. Vitamin premixes, used in animal feed, breakfast
cereals, and numerous other processed foods, were also affected.
Additionally, Dr. Robert C.
Marshall, Bates White Partner and Professor of Economics at The
Pennsylvania State University, examined whether economic evidence
demonstrated that the defendants began colluding much earlier than the
time period for which they had pled guilty. This analysis extended the
damage period established by the plea agreements and resulted in
significant additional recoveries. The firm also supported Dr. Jeffrey
M. Perloff of University of California, Berkeley, in his estimation of
overcharges and damages for a leading cereal manufacturer’s
domestic, foreign, and indirect vitamin purchases.
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