antitrust case examples - Virgin Atlantic v. British Airways

Virgin Atlantic v. British Airways Dismissed
Judge Throws Out Case on Summary Judgment

In a decision that "astounded" Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson, a federal judge threw out a $1 billion lawsuit filed by Virgin Atlantic Airways against our client, British Airways. Virgin Atlantic had sued British Airways, claiming that British Airways' incentive agreements were anti-competitive and predatory. In granting summary judgment, Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum largely adopted the critique of Virgin's expert report prepared by our academic affiliate, Professor Robert S. Pindyck, of MIT's Sloan School of Management. This report found that Virgin could not provide evidence that British Airways engaged in predatory or otherwise anti-competitive conduct.

Principal Richard Starfield and Vice President Steven Herscovici worked with Professor Pindyck to analyze the competitive effects of the incentive programs on certain trans-Atlantic routes. We found that Virgin's claims were theoretically unsound and that British Airways' fares fell as competition grew on these routes, as is expected in a competitive market.

antitrust economics

Antitrust issues are becoming increasingly complex. U.S. and European enforcement agencies are applying new theories and models of actual and potential anticompetitive harm in evaluating mergers and acquisitions, and in civil and criminal investigations. Private antitrust actions have kept pace. New theories of liability, impact, and harm and innovative approaches to damages are altering the landscape of traditional antitrust. Combine these developments with the rapid technological change and increased globalization that face most industries, and the challenge to design and implement an effective antitrust analysis becomes a daunting one.

In antitrust economics, we have analyzed numerous issues, including allegations of monopolization, predatory pricing, tying arrangements, and other anti-competitive activities. In these engagements, we have demonstrated our expertise in the analysis of industry conditions, market definition, pricing, behavior of individual firms, and efficiency gains and losses resulting from collective behavior. We have provided analysis in a multitude of antitrust cases in a broad range of industries, including professional sports franchises, food, transportation, higher education, retail and wholesale grocery distribution, and computer software.