Insurance-Related Antitrust Defense

Alston & Bird consistently combines two of its core practices, our extensive knowledge of the insurance industry and our preeminent antitrust practice. Clients regularly retain us to represent them in antitrust trials, class actions, multidistrict litigation, and business counseling.

Antitrust Litigation 

We routinely represent clients in bet-the-company critical insurance-related antitrust litigation. We understand your insurance industry needs and make it our business to help you solve your problems, often serving as lead trial counsel. Our team can guide you through sensitive antitrust litigation in antitrust trials, class actions, multidistrict litigation, and other litigation involving complex antitrust issues.

Mergers and Acquisitions 

We have a wealth of experience handling the significant antitrust issues in mergers and acquisitions in the insurance industry. We regularly counsel clients on the structure of, and the risks associated with, proposed transactions, obtain necessary pre-merger clearances under the Hart–Scott–Rodino Act, and navigate clients through government merger investigations with no or minimal divestitures.

For our clients operating globally, we assist with international pre-merger notifications and help navigate the 70+ jurisdictions that require filings and approvals for transactions that satisfy jurisdiction-specific criteria.

Our antitrust lawyers also represent clients in investigations by the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, and foreign enforcement agencies, including the European Union and the Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese Fair Trade Commissions.

Business Counseling 

Clients regularly turn to us for efficient and practical antitrust counseling on a wide variety of issues, from participation in trade associations and patent pools to the intricacies of daily contract, pricing, and distribution activities. We have created dozens of industry-specific antitrust compliance policies and training programs for U.S. and foreign companies seeking to prevent antitrust problems.

• Lead trial counsel to one of the nation’s largest auto insurers in a multidistrict litigation action involving more than 20 antitrust suits brought by body shop plaintiffs alleging price-fixing and boycott claims based on an alleged conspiracy among the defendant insurers.
• Counsel to an insurance company facing regulatory investigation, including a lawsuit brought by a state attorney general alleging claims under state antitrust statutes.
• Represented an insurance company against allegations by policyholders that automobile insurers artificially maintain the price of their automobile insurance policies.
• Submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of a client facing antitrust allegations based on improperly limiting insurance coverage.