Leibowitz, Pozen Discuss Year’s Highlights at ABA Spring Antitrust Meeting

This posting was written by Jeffrey May, Editor of CCH Trade Regulation Reporter.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, discussed the active enforcement agendas at their agencies at the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting on March 30 in Washington, D.C.


Acting Assistant Attorney General Pozen said that the Antitrust Division had an “amazing” year. With respect to criminal enforcement, she noted the recent conviction of AU Optronics Corporation of Taiwan, its U.S. subsidiary, and its former president and former executive vice president for conspiring to fix prices of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels.

On the civil enforcement side, Pozen mentioned two recent successes in the merger enforcement area. She called AT&T’s decision to abandon its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc. in the face of a Justice Department challenge a “tremendous victory” and an example of federal/state cooperation. Pozen also noted a federal district decision enjoining H&R Block, Inc.’s proposed acquisition of 2SS Holdings, Inc.—the maker of “TaxACT” tax preparation software (2011-2 Trade Cases ¶77,678). She commended the decision, saying it read like a treatise. Other recommended reading, according to Pozen, is the competitive impact statement, explaining the consent decree resolving the government’s monopolization allegations against United Regional Health Care System of Wichita Falls (2011-2 Trade Cases ¶77,619).

The FTC continued to focus on the health care sector over the past year, the FTC chairman pointed out in his remarks. Leibowitz noted three hospital merger cases in litigation. First, he mentioned the Commission opinion requiring ProMedica Health System to divest rival St. Luke's Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. Second, he said that the FTC was waiting for a federal district court to rule on its request for a preliminary injunction to block OSF Healthcare System’s proposed acquisition of Rockford Health System, which would combine two of the three major hospital systems in Rockford, Illinois. Finally, the FTC chairman highlighted the U.S. Solicitor General’s Supreme Court petition questioning a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta (2011-2 Trade Cases ¶77,722), holding that the proposed combination of the only two hospitals in Albany, Georgia, was immune from an FTC antitrust attack under the state action doctrine.

Looking ahead, Pozen, who is resigning effective April 30, said that she hoped for a smooth transition to her successor. William Baer—the head of the antitrust group at the Washington, D.C. office of Arnold & Porter, LLP, and a former director of the FTC Bureau of Competition—was nominated to serve as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division on February 6. The nomination is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

FTC Chairman Leibowitz said that top enforcement priorities going forward would focus on technology and health care issues, as well as “last dollar fraud,” such as deceptive foreclosure rescue and bogus credit repair schemes. In the technology area, Leibowitz said the FTC was involved in a number of open investigations that he could not discuss. The chairman also noted in his remarks that, with the recent Senate confirmation of Maureen Ohlhausen, the Commission would be operating with a full five-member team.