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California Revives Criminal Enforcement of the Cartwright Act

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Bonnie Lau, Eliot Adelson, and Jamis Barcott published an article titled, "California revives criminal enforcement of the Cartwright Act" that explored California Senior Assistant Attorney General Paula Blizzard’s plans to reinvigorate the state’s long-dormant criminal antitrust enforcement. 

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Bonnie Lau, Eliot Adelson, and Jamis Barcott published an article titled, "California revives criminal enforcement of the Cartwright Act" that explored California Senior Assistant Attorney General Paula Blizzard’s plans to reinvigorate the state’s long-dormant criminal antitrust enforcement. The authors wrote that because of Blizzard's renewed interest in criminal enforcement of the Cartwright Act, "companies doing business in California should proactively consider the Cartwright Act when developing or updating effective antitrust programs."Read the <a href="https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/377823-california-revives-criminal-enforcement-of-the-cartwright-act" target="_blank">full article</a> (subscription required).

California Revives Criminal Enforcement of the Cartwright Act

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Bonnie Lau helps clients navigate internal and government antitrust investigations, enforcement proceedings, and class action litigation. Clients commend Bonnie as “absolutely outstanding; a practical, responsive and adept adviser” and “a fantastic lawyer, detail-oriented and able to handle complex matters with ease and good humor.” (Chambers USA, 2022.)Bonnie is the co-head of Morrison Foerster’s San Francisco litigation department. A dynamic trial lawyer, Bonnie has significant experience defending class actions, multidistrict litigations, and enforcement actions, and deftly handles international competition investigations and enforcement issues. She advises clients across a range of industries that face government scrutiny or allegations of anticompetitive conduct, including technology, manufacturing, media, telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services.Bonnie has tried several bench and jury trials to verdict, and recently served as lead trial counsel in an antitrust class action jury trial with over a billion dollars of exposure. She has represented companies in antitrust and related complex litigation involving claims of price-fixing, wage-fixing, no-poach conduct, output suppression, monopolization, refusal to deal, predatory pricing, and group boycott, and prosecuted antitrust counterclaims in patent infringement and IP matters. Bonnie has also represented clients in various complex litigation and alternative dispute resolution matters involving unfair competition, RICO, TCPA, and intellectual property claims.Bonnie has received numerous accolades for her legal work. She was most recently named as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California” and a “Top Antitrust Lawyer” by the Daily Journal in 2022, as well as an “Up and Coming” attorney for Antitrust – California by Chambers USA in 2022. She won the “Antitrust/Competition Lawyer of the Year” award at the Euromoney America’s Women in Business Law Awards in 2021.Bonnie devotes herself to promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal community, currently serving as co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Network for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, co-chair of the board of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Women Connected, and former chair of the Leadership Council for Legal Diversity Alumni. For her contributions, Bonnie was named to the National Association of Women Lawyers’ (NAWL) Rising List for 2022 and selected by Chambers Diversity and Inclusion as a 2022 finalist for “Lawyer of the Year.”<h4>Representative Matters</h4><ul><li>Defending a Japanese technology and manufacturing client in a consolidated class action litigation alleging federal and state antitrust and consumer protection claims and related Department of Justice Antitrust Division price-fixing conspiracy investigation and criminal proceedings. Managing parallel international class actions and coordinating defense of foreign regulatory antitrust investigations.</li><li>Defending the largest broadcast television station operator in the United States in a putative class action alleging price-fixing of television advertising in multiple markets nationwide.</li><li>Defending steel manufacturer and fabricator in monopolization, predatory pricing, unfair competition, and tortious interference federal and state claims.</li><li>Representing technology startup company in monopolization, refusal to deal, tortious interference, and unfair competition federal and state counterclaims.</li><li>Representing a major healthcare company in a criminal investigation.</li><li>Represented SoftBank and Sprint in federal civil litigation proceedings in California in connection with Sprint’s merger with T-Mobile.</li><li>Represented SoftBank and ARM in FTC proceedings in connection with Nvidia’s potential acquisition.</li><li>Won an en banc Eleventh Circuit decision affirming dismissal with prejudice of federal antitrust claims in a multidistrict litigation comprised of 24 individual and putative class action cases across the country that allege antitrust, RICO, and/or steering violations against over a hundred major automobile insurance carriers.</li><li>Won an appeal, defeated three separate attempts to certify a class, excluded expert methodology, and won complete summary judgment of individual claims in antitrust and unfair competition class action against a major automobile insurer, alleging a conspiracy to charge anticompetitive premiums to policyholders.</li><li>Prosecuted an antitrust counterclaim in a patent infringement lawsuit by a non-practicing entity. Following the trial of the patent infringement claims, and a post-judgment remittitur of the award, won complete victory in the Federal Circuit, which reversed the jury’s finding of infringement and vacated the award of damages.</li><li>Prosecuted a Walker Process antitrust counterclaim in a patent and intellectual property infringement lawsuit.</li></ul>

Bonnie Lau

Partner

Eliot Adelson is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Global Antitrust Litigation practice where he handles complex legal issues facing clients in jurisdictions around the world. He provides clients with creative strategies for resolving a broad range of disputes, including civil and criminal antitrust litigation and internal and government investigations.Eliot represents clients across a spectrum of industries, including auto parts, major media companies and TV station operators, banking and finance, communications, and software and technology, among others. Eliot has experience providing unique and complex advice across a range of matters, including internal investigations, civil and criminal cartel investigations, and litigation.Before joining Morrison Foerster, Eliot cultivated an international client base across industries and geographies over his 15-year tenure at another global law firm. Japanese companies look to him for his deep knowledge of antitrust matters.Eliot previously served as a Deputy District Attorney for Alameda County in California. He is on the board of the Contra Costa Senior Legal Services and is a member of the Executive Committee for the Antitrust & UCL Section of the California Lawyers Association.<h4 dir="ltr">Representative Experience</h4><ul><li dir="ltr">Murata Manufacturing. Represented Murata, a Japanese electric components manufacturer, in a putative class action alleging that certain electronics manufacturers conspired to fix the prices of inductors.</li><li dir="ltr">Nexstar Media Group. Representing Nexstar in a putative class action alleging that certain television station owners conspired to fix the prices of local television advertising.</li><li>Represented a major publicly traded REIT in a putative class action filed by renters alleging that multifamily property owners engaged in anticompetitive conduct to increase the price of leases across the United States.</li><li dir="ltr">Represented a Japanese manufacturer in connection with the TFT-LCD and CRT price fixing cases.</li><li dir="ltr">Arm Limited. Represented SoftBank Group and Arm Limited on complex antitrust and national security issues arising from NVIDIA’s proposed acquisition of Arm from SoftBank for $65 billion. </li><li dir="ltr">TIBC. Represented Japanese company TIBC in response to an investigation of the semiconductor packaging industry.</li><li dir="ltr">Former CEO of G4S Belgium. Representing the former CEO of G4S who has been indicted by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division related to allegations of a conspiracy to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for certain contracts.</li><li dir="ltr">Conducted an internal investigation for Kobe Steel related to alleged data falsification.</li><li dir="ltr">Represented a group of defendant landowners in a price-fixing case alleging that the defendants fixed prices for land in Solano County.</li><li dir="ltr">Represented a global pharmaceutical company in a price fixing and market allocation investigation.</li><li dir="ltr">Tenneco. Represented Tenneco, a Fortune 500 automotive components manufacturer, in connection with DOJ and other enforcement agencies’ auto parts investigations.</li><li dir="ltr">Represented several individual executives in the DOJ Antitrust Division’s auto parts investigation.</li><li dir="ltr">Represented several individual executives in the DOJ Antitrust Division’s capacitor investigation.</li><li dir="ltr">Toyota Industries Corp. Represented Japanese company Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) in connection with the DOJ’s second request concerning TICO’s acquisition of Cascade Corporation.</li><li dir="ltr">Bain Capital. Represented Bain Capital, a leading multi-asset alternative investment firm, in connection with the DOJ’s second request concerning Big Tex Trailer’s acquisition of American Trailer Works</li></ul>

Eliot A. Adelson

Antitrust Law