Mintz Levin Successfully Represents CVS Pharmacy Corp. Subsidiary in Antitrust Case
7/12/2004
Boston, MA - Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. announced that a federal appeals court ruled in favor of its client, Pharmacare, a CVS Corporation subsidiary, declaring that it did not violate antitrust laws with its use of limited pharmacy networks.
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston affirmed the directed verdict that Pharmacare received during a jury trial in Federal District court in Providence, RI last June.
The antitrust suit was brought by Stop and Shop Supermarket Co. and Walgreen Eastern Co., Inc. The companies charged that they were unfairly excluded when Blue Cross switched to a pharmacy benefits manager using a restricted network that limited where Blue Cross subscribers could fill their prescriptions.
In its ruling the appeals court called the network an "exclusive dealing arrangement" which is not necessarily a violation of antitrust laws, and affirmed a directed verdict in favor of the defendants because the plaintiffs had not met their burden to establish the relevant product and geographic markets in which to judge the impact of the pharmacy networks. Bruce D. Sokler, a partner in Mintz Levin's Washington D.C. office, was assisted on the appeal by Yee Wah Chin and Noam B. Fischman, also of the firm's Washington D.C. office.
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC is a multidisciplinary law firm with over 450 attorneys and senior professionals in Boston, Washington D.C., Reston, VA, New York, New Haven, CT, Los Angeles and London.
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