January Antitrust Bulletin

Federal Pleading Standards Clarified in Price-Fixing Case

A federal appeals court recently clarified the pleading standards established in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal. In In re: Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation, an amended complaint was found to contain sufficient circumstantial evidence of price fixing "to warrant allowing the plaintiffs to proceed to discovery." The court ruled that allegations of direct evidence of an overt agreement were not required, and that allegations that the defendants had exchanged price information at trade associations, engaged in leadership councils, and increased prices in the face of steeply falling costs were sufficiently plausible.