States are stepping up antitrust efforts as legal teams expand

In a concerted effort to challenge the largest corporations, state attorneys general across the United States are significantly expanding their antitrust teams, using state laws to fight tech giants and other industry leaders. According to one of the study’s authors, this trend is changing the antitrust enforcement landscape and complicating defense strategies for companies facing multiple lawsuits. Bloomberg Report.

Over the past five years, states such as Florida and Tennessee have significantly increased the number of antitrust legal teams. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) has aggressively pursued antitrust actions, including blocking the JetBlue Airways Corp. merger. and Spirit Airlines, which led to a side settlement last spring. Additionally, Moody launched an unprecedented antitrust investigation into the College Football Playoff Committee after undefeated Florida State University was excluded from the playoffs.

Tennessee has quadrupled its number of antitrust lawyers from one to four as it focuses on expanding litigation in college sports, particularly targeting the NCAA’s restrictive rules on athlete transfers. This strategic development provides countries with the resources to address both local and national challenges that may have previously been infeasible.

California, known for its leading antitrust team, plans to continue to expand, hiring eight new employees in June and planning more in the future. California recently joined the Department of Justice and about 30 states in a major lawsuit aimed at breaking up Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

Related: Justice Department sues Live Nation over antitrust violations

New Jersey is also stepping up its antitrust efforts under the leadership of Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin (n), who announced the addition of two more lawyers to the state’s growing list of antitrust cases. The state of New Jersey is currently investigating pharmaceutical and payment processing companies, with lead local counsel in a lawsuit against Apple over iPhone pricing, and is involved in litigation against Amazon and Google.

The expansion of state antitrust enforcement is part of a broader trend observed over the past two decades. Gwendolyn J. Lindsay Cooley, chair of the National Association of Attorneys General’s Antitrust Task Force and deputy attorney general of Wisconsin, noted that the number of deputy attorneys general involved in antitrust litigation has increased to about 270, with a significant increase over the last five years.

“There is a zeitgeist, rightly or wrongly, that there have been failures in antitrust enforcement over the years, and that’s why we’re so focused across all industries,” Cooley said. “How to solve this problem by hiring more people.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D-State) emphasized the urgent need for antitrust enforcement in the economy, stating: “Antitrust enforcement is designed to protect free markets and competition, which benefits both consumers and businesses.”

Source: Bloomberg Law News