States Use Authority to Assert Home Turf in Antitrust Cases (1)

A judicial panel’s decision to move drug price-fixing lawsuits back to Connecticut underscores a growing trend in states successfully exercising their right to litigate antitrust cases within their own territory.

The US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation last week denied an attempt by top drugmakers to group the cases into multidistrict litigation in Pennsylvania, citing a year-old law that grants state attorneys general more say in where their antitrust cases are heard. Antitrust experts say the increasingly widespread application of the law could give plaintiffs a home-state advantage and speed up litigation by allowing states to move lawsuits out ...