Anyone who is involved in a business enterprise potentially can be affected by antitrust laws and trade regulations. These are complex areas of the law that are regulated by the Federal, and Puerto Rico's governments. Our firm has extensive experience in this area of the law and has represented clients in both private and government antitrust litigation.
Our Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group includes attorneys from our Litigation and Corporate Practice Groups who have handled significant anti-trust matters. They counsel business clients on antitrust and trade regulation matters and represent them in litigation in all Puerto Rico trial and appeal courts, including the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Our Group has handled landmark cases under Puerto Rico's antitrust statute in which we have succeeded in limiting the government's right to search for, seize and use corporate documents as part of an antitrust investigation (Coca Cola v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). We have also participated in significant litigation before the United States Supreme Court involving the enforcement of agreements to arbitrate antitrust claims. (Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth).
Although our success in antitrust litigation is firmly established, our attorneys work closely with our business clients to provide antitrust compliance guidelines and related assistance so that costly litigation can be avoided whenever possible.
Our antitrust practice relates to a wide range of business activities, including:
- Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures
- Horizontal restraints, including industry standard-setting, agreements ancillary to joint ventures, price-fixing, boycotts, and customer and territorial allocations
- Distribution practices, price discrimination, tying arrangements, exclusive dealing, and customer and territorial restraints
- Allegations of monopolization or attempted monopolization
- The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).