Stuart N. Senator

Key Representations

• Solvay Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. Supreme Court in FTC v. Actavis, in which the Court determined the appropriate level of antitrust scrutiny for so-called “reverse payment” settlements of pharmaceutical patent litigation and rejected the FTC’s proposed presumption of illegality for those settlements.
• Universal Music in obtaining government approval for its acquisition of EMI, as well as in federal antitrust litigation regarding Minimum Advertised Pricing policies.
• Salomon Brothers in the Department of Justice’s investigation and class action litigation regarding Nasdaq trading practices.
• Universal Home Video in federal antitrust litigations regarding video distribution.
• Shell Oil Company in defense of antitrust challenges to gasoline pricing and joint ventures, including obtaining a unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Shell's favor.
• AbbVie Inc., formerly Abbott Laboratories, in:
  • Multiple class actions and litigation by a competitor, alleging predatory pricing of HIV drugs.
    • Obtained a defense verdict at a jury trial on the competitor’s antitrust claims for $1.7 billion in damages, which was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the top verdicts of 2011.
    • Obtained ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the indirect purchaser class action that Abbott pricing was not actionable under the antitrust laws.
  • Government investigations and multi-district civil class action litigations alleging that settlements of patent litigation violated federal and state antitrust laws.
    • Obtained precedential decision from Eleventh Circuit rejecting per se rule and articulating standard for analysis of patent settlements under antitrust laws.
    • Obtained appellate decision vacating district court’s certification of class of direct purchasers.
    • Obtained defense verdict in a jury trial on all claims of a non-settling defendant, affirmed by Ninth Circuit in a decision cited by Law360 as one of 2009’s major decisions in antitrust law.
    • Obtained dismissal of Federal Trade Commission’s first post-Actavis challenge to an alleged “reverse payment” settlement.
• Takeda Pharmaceuticals in defense of class action and private litigation alleging violation of the antitrust laws from a pharmaceutical intellectual property settlement agreement.
• 1-800 Contacts in defense of federal antitrust litigation alleging sham litigation and unreasonable restraints of trade relating to pursuit and settlement of trademark infringement claims.
• LG Display in defense of class action and individual antitrust cases stemming from allegations of price-fixing among manufacturers of LCD panels.
• United Farm Workers and individual farm workers in litigation that resulted in Cal/OSHA’s increased oversight of agriculture employers’ provision of shade, water and rest breaks for farm workers who pick crops in sweltering heat. 
• International, national and local law firms in defending legal malpractice claims, including class action claims, and advising on avoiding claims.
• International, national and local law firms in defending against disqualification motions.