Bruce retired from Mintz in 2026. He was Chair of the firm's Antitrust Practice.
Experience
viewpoints
Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Exclusive Dealing Antitrust Suit Against Hospital and Physician Group
August 25, 2016 | Blog
Last week, in Deborah Heart & Lung Center v. Virtua Health, Inc., the Third Circuit affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a suit filed by a hospital alleging an illegal exclusive dealing arrangement by a competing hospital and physician group for referrals made by the defendants to a third hospital rather than to the plaintiff hospital.
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No Resuscitation of Hospital’s Exclusive Dealing Antitrust Suit against Competing Hospitals and Physicians
August 23, 2016 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
The Third Circuit reminds, “[i]n antitrust suits, definitions matter.” Last week, in applying that maxim, the court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a suit filed by a hospital against a competing hospital and physician group, in which the plaintiff hospital alleged that defendants engaged in an illegal exclusive dealing arrangement by referring patients to a third hospital rather than to the plaintiff hospital.
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Second Circuit: Aluminum End Users Lack Antitrust Standing; Price Manipulation Claims Against Traders and Warehouses Foiled
August 15, 2016 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Lydia Turnier
Last week, in In re Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (“Second Circuit”) rejected a claim by certain downstream end-users of aluminum that their price manipulation antitrust suit should be allowed to proceed.
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What Have Merchants Gained from Payment Card Antitrust Litigation?
August 3, 2016 | Advisory | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short
In recent years, federal antitrust enforcers and businesses that accept payment cards have been waging a slow war against payment card fees and the card network rules that protect them. The payment card industry’s antitrust battles are nothing new, dating back to antitrust lawsuits against the predecessor to Visa in the early 1970s.
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Activist Investor to Pay Record Fine for Violating HSR Reporting Requirements
July 14, 2016 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced this week that an activist investment manager has agreed to pay a record $11 million to settle allegations that it violated the requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act” or “Act”) by improperly relying on the “investment-only” exemption to avoid reporting the transaction and observing the appropriate waiting period.
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DOJ and NC File Antitrust Suit Challenging Anti-Steering Restrictions in Payor Contracts
June 10, 2016 | Alert | By Dionne Lomax, Bruce Sokler
A popular weapon used to contain health care expenditures is the creation by payors and employers of tiered provider networks, which by differentiated co-pays attempt to steer insureds to less expensive choices. In connection with such networks, providers will often provide better pricing in order to be placed on more favorable tiers.
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Federal Court Relies on “Evolving Landscape of Health Care” Post-Affordable Care Act to Reject FTC Challenge to Hospital Merger
May 11, 2016 | Advisory | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Dionne Lomax, Farrah Short
Judge takes “the healthcare world as it is, and not as the FTC wishes it to be.”
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FTC Settles Monopolization Charges Stemming from Contract Exclusivity Terms Used by First-to-Market Medical Polymer Maker
April 28, 2016 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
The mere possession of monopoly power does not violate federal antitrust laws. The laws only address the anticompetitive acquisition, maintenance, or abuse of that power.
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Court Denies Class Cert. in NCAA Antitrust Suit
April 4, 2016 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
The NCAA scored a victory last week with the denial of class certification in an antitrust suit challenging the association’s former ban on multiyear scholarships (the “One Year Rule”) and its cap on scholarships (the “GIA Cap”). Plaintiff had alleged that those rules constituted a concerted effort by the NCAA and its member schools to thwart competition.
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Sixth Circuit Finds Possibility of Conspiracy Among Hospital Network Members
March 25, 2016 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
The Sixth Circuit on Tuesday voted 2 to 1 to reverse a district court’s grant of summary judgment under which a defendant hospital network had been found to be a single entity incapable of conspiring with itself in an anticompetitive manner under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.
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News & Press
Five Mintz Attorneys Recognized as ‘Top Authors’ by JD Supra
February 24, 2026|
How DOJ's Visa Debit Monopolization Suit May Unfold
October 28, 2024|
FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling
June 3, 2024|
The Capitol Forum Interviews Mintz's Bruce Sokler
April 22, 2024|
Are the Google, Amazon Suits This Generation's Microsoft?
November 26, 2023|
Thirteen Mintz Members Named To Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators List
September 11, 2023|
FTC Pharma Merger Digest May Offer Policy Clues
June 15, 2023|
FTC Shift In Compulsory Process Lends Staff More Clout
September 12, 2022|
Poultry Sector Wage-Fixing Case Shows Info Exchange Risks
August 31, 2022|
Private Equity On Notice Due To Vet Clinic FTC Settlement
June 16, 2022|
Five Mintz Attorneys Recognized as Client Service All-Stars by BTI
February 8, 2022|
Biden Enforcers Fail to Stem Rising Merger Tide
October 22, 2021|
Mintz Attorneys and Practices Recognized by Chambers USA 2020
April 24, 2020|
One Hundred Mintz Attorneys Ranked as Leaders by Best Lawyers 2020
August 15, 2019|
Mintz Recognized by Chambers USA 2019
April 26, 2019|
Antitrust Case against BCBS to Continue under Per Se Standard
February 1, 2019|
Chambers USA 2018 Ranks Mintz Attorneys & Practices
May 3, 2018|
Mintz Honored by JD Supra's 2018 Reader's Choice Awards
March 19, 2018|
Antitrust World Eyes Justices On AmEx Steering Case
February 23, 2018|
Hospital Consolidation
December 4, 2017|
What’s at Stake in the AmEx Merchant Rules Case?
October 16, 2017|
Physician Practice Acquisitions And Antitrust Scrutiny
September 19, 2017|
DOJ About-Face In High Court AmEx Case Has Attys Puzzled
August 9, 2017|
Chambers USA 2017 Ranks Mintz Attorneys & Practices
May 26, 2017|
Discord Between Ballad Health and the FTC
April 23, 2017|
Emboldened, the FTC Seems Ready to Fight More Mergers
November 21, 2016|
Chicago Hospital Case Could Hinge on Efficiency Argument
November 3, 2016|
Mintz Represents Seventh Generation, Inc. in Sale to Unilever
October 27, 2016|
FTC wins appeal to halt Penn State Hershey/PinnacleHealth merger
September 28, 2016|
Hospital Merger Stalls After FTC Court Win
September 27, 2016|
DOJ Loss In AmEx Case Could Imperil Hospital Steering Suit
September 27, 2016|
Six Mintz Members to Speak at 2016 IBA Annual Conference
September 12, 2016|
What Have Merchants Gained From Payment Card Litigation?
August 10, 2016|
5 Questions To Watch As DOJ Targets Carolinas HealthCare
June 13, 2016|
49 Mintz Attorneys Featured in Chambers USA 2016 Guide
May 31, 2016|
5 Ways to Ease the Pain of an Antitrust Review
May 23, 2016|
Rodeo Associations Fail to Rein in Each Other in Round 1
February 9, 2016|
Mintz’s Wins Significant Antitrust Case for C-SPAN
June 10, 2013|
Mintz Advises on Top Greentech Deal of 2012
January 8, 2013|
podcasts
Biden’s Executive Order on Antitrust Competition: What Does It Mean for the Health Care Industry?
July 19, 2021 | Podcast | By Bruce Sokler
Joe Miller and Bruce Sokler, Co-Chairs of Mintz's Antitrust Practice, discuss President Biden’s July 9 executive order, which called for a government-wide focus on antitrust competition issues and identified 72 initiatives across several industries.
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Events & Speaking
Panelist
Speaker
Speaker
Speaker
May
17
2018
Antitrust in Healthcare
American Bar Association and American Health Lawyers Association
The Ritz-Carlton Arlington, VA
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Speaker
Speaker
Moderator
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Apr
23
2015
Recent Insights
