In Law360, Antitrust and Competition Litigation Co-Chair Greg Asciolla discussed the ramifications for antitrust class actions if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to address the Court's ruling in Illinois Brick v. Illinois, which limited the antitrust claims that indirect purchases can bring. "It certainly would be a monumental change in antitrust litigation," Greg said.
Greg said that one significant effect would be classes of indirect and direct purchasers would become antagonistic towards each other as they battle over the same pot of money. He added that a third party might be needed to split up the award pie, "requiring its own phase of trial in an extra lawyer of complexity."
On October 1, 2018, Labaton Sucharow's Antitrust team submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the American Antitrust Institute that called on the Court to reject an expansion of the Illinois indirect-purchaser rule that would bar consumers who purchase products from Apple's App Store from suing Apple for damages for monopolistic conduct.