DaVita Loses Bid for Early Exit From Criminal Antitrust Case

DaVita Inc. and its former CEO must face criminal antitrust allegations brought by the Justice Department over their alleged “no poach” pacts with two competitors, including a UnitedHealth Group Inc. subsidiary, a federal judge in Denver ruled Friday.

Judge R. Brooke Jackson let the prosecution move forward in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, advancing the government’s claim that the outpatient health chain committed a “per se” antitrust violation by pledging to refrain from recruiting the employees of its rivals.

Jackson cited a well-settled line of rulings stating that “horizontal market allocation” deals are subject to the ...