Bid-Rigging Reversal Risks “Serious Blow” to DOJ, Practitioners Say

Lisa Phelan spoke to Global Competition Review regarding the reversal of the Sherman Act criminal conviction of Contech Engineered Solutions executive Brent Brewbaker by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which found that the bid-rigging conspiracy was not inherently anticompetitive because the co-conspirator also served as one of Contech’s distributors.

The Fourth Circuit’s ruling found that “hybrid” competition between companies that compete at both horizontal and vertical levels cannot be condemned as illegal without additional economic analysis. Lisa said the ruling could be a “serious blow” to criminal enforcement efforts, stating that the opinion suggests partner companies with vertical business relationships can “apparently go ahead and collude on bidding to the government.”

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