Dropoff in Filing of Federal Antitrust Lawsuits
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| Fiscal Year | Number | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 1,318 | 4.3 |
| 2009 | 806 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 553 | 1.8 |
| 2011 | 429 | 1.4 |
| 2012 | 685 | 2.2 |
| 2013 | 792 | 2.5 |
| 2014 | 725 | 2.3 |
| 2015 (first 6 months) | 307 | 1.0 |
| 2015 (estimated)* | 614 | 2.0 |
The latest available data from the federal courts show that during the first half of fiscal year 2015 there were 307 new antitrust lawsuits filed in district court. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), the rate of filings is the lowest since 2011. If filings continue at the same pace for the second half of this fiscal year, total filings for FY 2015 will be 614 — down 15.3 percent from last year when 725 new antitrust suits were filed in the federal district courts.
The comparisons of the number of civil filings for antitrust-related suits are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1).
When the pace of 2015 civil antitrust filings is compared with that of two years ago during FY 2013, the number is down by 22.5 percent.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Relative to population, the volume of civil matters of this type filed in federal district courts during the first half of FY 2015 was 1.0 per million people. Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of antitrust civil filings in each of the nation's federal judicial districts.
The Northern District of California (San Francisco) had the largest number of filings with a total of 56, or nearly one out of every five filed in the country. Taking into consideration its population size, the filing rate in this district was third highest in the country. The defendants in these lawsuits were fairly diverse and included the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the PGA Tour, Zuffa LLC (sports promotion), Ticketmaster, Oracle and Microsoft. The largest concentration of suits was filed against Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Cooper Vision, Inc. and other vision or health care providers.
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) had the second highest number of filings with a total of 37. This district is ranked fourth if relative population size is taken into consideration. A substantial number of these suits were filed against the Comcast Corporation — a large broadcast, cable, internet and telephone service provider. The company has its headquarters in Philadelphia.
In third place with 24 filings is the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), ranking second in per capita terms due to its smaller population relative to other districts. (The District of Columbia, because of its small population size, was ranked first on its per capita rate even though it had only 6 antitrust lawsuits filed.) Many of Missouri West's filings were against Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. — an American supplier of propane. Ferrellgas has corporate operations in the Kansas City suburbs of Liberty, Missouri and Overland Park, Kansas.
Table 2 shows both the number of new lawsuits and the magnitude relative to population size for each federal district. Federal districts in states that have had no filings so far this year are not listed.
| Federal Judicial District |
Number of Lawsuits |
Rate* | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| by Number of Lawsuits |
by Rate* | |||
| Total | 307 | 1.0 | n/a | n/a |
| Cal, N | 56 | 7.0 | 1 | 3 |
| Penn, E | 37 | 6.4 | 2 | 4 |
| Mo, W | 24 | 7.7 | 3 | 2 |
| N. Y., S | 20 | 3.9 | 4 | 5 |
| Fla, M | 19 | 1.8 | 5 | 9 |
| N. Y., E | 17 | 2.1 | 6 | 7 |
| Fla, S | 13 | 1.9 | 7 | 8 |
| N. J. | 12 | 1.4 | 8 | 12 |
| Ill, N | 12 | 1.3 | 8 | 14 |
| Mich, E | 11 | 1.7 | 10 | 10 |
| Cal, C | 8 | 0.4 | 11 | 37 |
| D. C. | 6 | 9.5 | 12 | 1 |
| Tenn, E | 4 | 1.6 | 13 | 11 |
| Penn, M | 4 | 1.3 | 13 | 14 |
| Texas, E | 4 | 1.1 | 13 | 18 |
| Virg, E | 4 | 0.7 | 13 | 25 |
| Arizona | 4 | 0.6 | 13 | 28 |
| Texas, W | 4 | 0.6 | 13 | 28 |
| Delaware | 3 | 3.3 | 19 | 6 |
| Penn, W | 3 | 0.8 | 19 | 21 |
| Minnesota | 3 | 0.6 | 19 | 28 |
| Tenn, M | 2 | 0.9 | 22 | 19 |
| Wisc, W | 2 | 0.9 | 22 | 19 |
| Ala, N | 2 | 0.7 | 22 | 25 |
| Kansas | 2 | 0.7 | 22 | 25 |
| Oregon | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 33 |
| Wash, W | 2 | 0.4 | 22 | 37 |
| Ohio, N | 2 | 0.3 | 22 | 40 |
| Texas, N | 2 | 0.3 | 22 | 40 |
| Texas, S | 2 | 0.2 | 22 | 46 |
| N Dakota | 1 | 1.4 | 31 | 12 |
| La, M | 1 | 1.2 | 31 | 16 |
| S Dakota | 1 | 1.2 | 31 | 16 |
| Ark, W | 1 | 0.8 | 31 | 21 |
| Ill, S | 1 | 0.8 | 31 | 21 |
| Maine | 1 | 0.8 | 31 | 21 |
| Fla, N | 1 | 0.6 | 31 | 28 |
| La, E | 1 | 0.6 | 31 | 28 |
| Ken, E | 1 | 0.5 | 31 | 33 |
| N Mexico | 1 | 0.5 | 31 | 33 |
| Okla, W | 1 | 0.5 | 31 | 33 |
| Nevada | 1 | 0.4 | 31 | 37 |
| Cal, S | 1 | 0.3 | 31 | 40 |
| Ind, S | 1 | 0.3 | 31 | 40 |
| Mich, W | 1 | 0.3 | 31 | 40 |
| Mo, E | 1 | 0.3 | 31 | 40 |
| Colorado | 1 | 0.2 | 31 | 46 |
| Ga, N | 1 | 0.2 | 31 | 46 |
| Mass | 1 | 0.2 | 31 | 46 |
Each month, TRAC offers a free report focused on one area of civil litigation in the U.S. district courts. In addition, subscribers to the TRACFed data service can generate custom reports by district, office, nature of suit or federal jurisdiction via the TRAC Data Interpreter.