Amicus Brief Filed on Behalf of Economists/Professors to Reverse Anthem/Cigna Merger Decision
Dechert LLP filed an amicus brief today on behalf of a group of antitrust economists and business professors urging the D.C. Circuit to reverse the District Court decision enjoining the Anthem/Cigna merger. Read the full amicus brief.
The amicus brief focuses on a narrow but important point in antitrust merger analysis and urges the Court of Appeals to apply the same standard to evaluating customer-benefitting direct price reductions resulting from a merger as is applied to consumer-harming direct price increases. A balanced approach to the analysis of all direct effects of mergers is critical to the proper assessment of the impact of mergers on competition, particularly in network industries and other settings where the merger improves the quality of products and services provided to customers.
The District Court decision in Anthem/Cigna erred by failing to apply the same standards to the merging parties’ evidence that the merger would result in lower insurance rates paid by insureds to healthcare providers as was applied to the government’s evidence that the merger would result in higher administrative fees paid by insureds to insurers. Instead of applying the same standard to all evidence of direct price effects, the District Court subjected the merging parties’ evidence to the more exacting standards reserved in the Department of Justice’s Horizontal Merger Guidelines for the analysis of the indirect effects on competition from cost reductions and other operational efficiencies.
In this expedited appeal, amicus briefs supporting Appellant were due on February 24, only seven days from the issuance of the Circuit Court’s briefing schedule. Oral argument is set for March 24.
The brief was filed on behalf of Michael Akemann, Dr. Benoît Durand, Jerry A. Hausman, Dr. Gregory K. Leonard, Prof. Will Mitchell, Prof. Melissa A. Schilling, and J. Douglas Zona PhD.
Dechert antitrust lawyers Paul T. Denis, Steven G. Bradbury and Brian Rafkin authored the brief.
With more than 45 dedicated antitrust/competition lawyers in Brussels, Frankfurt, New York, Paris, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., Dechert’s antitrust/competition practice has the global capability to develop creative solutions to the most difficult antitrust issues in merger clearance, litigation and business planning. This trial-ready group is known for clearing mergers under antitrust scrutiny and defending deals that have come under fire from enforcers and private litigants. The firm is consistently ranked among the leaders in legal directories and was named Antitrust Team of the Year by Chambers USA in 2014 and was shortlisted for the same award in 2015 and 2016. Dechert’s antitrust/competition group also created DAMITT, the Dechert Antitrust Merger Investigation Timing Tracker, a proprietary database and a quarterly report providing unique insights to answer critical questions about the timing and trends of U.S. antitrust merger review.
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