In re Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust

• Decision Date: 14 June 2016
• Docket Number: Case No. 3:15–md–2626–J–20JRK
• Citation: In re Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust, 215 F.Supp.3d 1272 (M.D. Fla. 2016)
• Parties: IN RE: DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENS ANTITRUST This Document Relates To: All Actions
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

215 F.Supp.3d 1272

IN RE: DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENS ANTITRUST

This Document Relates To: All Actions

Case No. 3:15–md–2626–J–20JRK

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Jacksonville Division .

Signed June 14, 2016

Filed June 16, 2016

Abbye R. Klamann, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, Christopher L. Lebsock, Michael P. Lehmann, Hausfeld LLP, Geoffrey Alan Munroe, Girard Gibbs LLP, David P. Chiappetta, Mara Boundy, Perkins Coie LLP, Aron K. Liang, Jack Wing Lee, Sean Tamura-Sato, Minami Tamaki, LLP, Allan Steyer, D. Scott Macrae, Steyer Lowenthal Boodrookas Alvarez & Smith LLP, Joseph Mario Patane, Lauren Clare Capurro, Mario N. Alioto, Trump Alioto Trump & Prescott, LLP, Adam C. Belsky, GROSS & BELSKY P.C., Monique Alonso, Terry Gross, Gross Belsky Alonso LLP, San Francisco, CA, Andrew S. Friedman, Francis J. Balint, Jr., Bonnett, Fairbourn, Friedman & Balint, PC, Phoenix, AZ, Benjamin Steinberg, Eamon O'Kelly, Robins Kaplan, LLP, Bonny E. Sweeney, Hausfeld, LLP, New York, NY, Gregory Harrison Lercher, Ian Richard Leavengood, J. Andrew Meyer, Leavengood, Dauval, Boyle & Meyer PA, St. Petersburg, FL, Hollis Lee Salzman, Bernard Persky, Kellie Lerner, William Reiss, Robins Kaplan, LLP, Irving Scher, Hausfeld, LLP, Peggy J. Wedgworth, Milberg, LLP, Michelle Zolnoski, Motley Rice, LLC, Peter Safirstein, Safirstein Metcalf LLP, Joseph P. Guglielmo, Peter A. Barile, III, Thomas Kay Boardman, Scott & Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP, John Domenick Zaremba, Zaremba Brownell & Brown PLLC, Archana Tamoshunas, Kevin Landau, Taus, Cebulash & Landau, LLP, New York, NY, John Andrew DeVault, III, Michael E. Lockamy, Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe, PA, James Dennis Young, Morgan & Morgan, PA, John Leonard Walker, Kevin B. Bass, Walker Group, PC, Jackson, MS, Manfred Patrick Muecke, Bonnett, Fairbourn, Friedman, & Balint, P.C., Dennis Stewart, Hulett Harper Stewart, LLP, Daniel Jay Mogin, MoginRubin LLP, Christopher M. Burke, Jennifer Janine Scott, John T. Jasnoch, Kate Lv, Walter W. Noss, Scott & Scott, LLP, Robert J. Gralewski, Jr., Kirby McInerney LLP, Alexander Michael Schack, Natasha Azadeh Naraghi, Law Offices of Alexander M. Schack, ELLIOT ADLER, Adler Law Group, APLC, Samuel M. Ward, Stephen R. Basser, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, San Diego, CA, Michael D. Hausfeld, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., Nathaniel C Giddings, James J. Pizzirusso, Hausfeld, LLP, Jeffrey D. Kaliel, Tycko & Zavareel, LLP, Douglas G. Thompson, Jr., Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran, Michael G. McLellan, Finkelstein Thompson, LLP, Washington, DC, Mili Desai, Lesley Elizabeth Weaver, Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, David Michael Berger, Eric H. Gibbs, Michael Schrag, Gibbs Law Group LLP, Oakland, CA, Robert Cecil Gilbert, Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Keechl, Boca Raton, FL, Scott Adam Edelsberg, Jeffrey M. Ostrow, Kopelowitz Ostrow, PA, Stuart Harold Singer, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, Kelley B. Stewart, Michael Joseph Ryan, Krupnick Campbell Malone Buser SlamaHancock Liberman, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Christopher Cain, Scott & Cain, Gordon Ball, Gordon Ball PLLC, John A. Lucas, Wagner, Myers, Sanger P.C., Lance Kristopher Baker, The Baker Law Firm, Wallace Allen McDonald, Lacy, Price & Wagner, Knoxville, TN, Courtney Kneece Grimm, Clay County Attorney's Office, Green Cove Springs, FL, Daniel R. Karon, Karon LLC, Cleveland, OH, Jesse A. Kirchner, Thurmond Kirchner Timbes & Yelverton, P.A., Charleston, SC, Jon V. Harper, Anderson & Karrenberg, PC, Salt Lake City, UT, Brooke B. Edenfield, Dirk L. Hubbard, J. Brett Milbourn, Thomas V. Bender, Walters Bender Strohbehn & Vaughan, PC, Kansas City, MO, Mark P. Bryant, Bryant Law Center, P.S.C., Paducah, KY, Gary Charles Rosen, Becker & Poliakoff, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, K. Craig Wildfang, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP, Daniel E. Gustafson, Daniel C. Hedlund, Joseph C. Bourne, Gustafson Gluek, PLLC, Minneapolis, MN, Michael Ross Whitt, Naples, FL, George W. Sampson, Lucinda M. Dunlap, Sampson Dunlap LLP, David J. Burman, David Scott Steele, Shylah R. Alfonso, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, WA, George R. Coe, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, Orlando, FL, Gregory Louis Davis, Davis & Taliaferro, Montgomery, AL, James E. Cecchi, Carella, Byrne, Bain, Gilfillan, Cecchi, Stewart & Olstein, Roseland, NJ, Michael E. Criden, Criden & Love, PA, South Miami, FL, Joseph C. Kohn, Kohn, Swift & Graf, PC, Simon Bahne Paris, Saltz Mongoluzzi Barrett & Bendesky, Steven J. Greenfogel, Lite Depalma Greenberg, LLC, Beth T. Seltzer, Gerald Rodos, Jeffrey B. Gittleman, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, Philadelphia, PA, James C. Wyly, Sean Fletcher Rommel, Wyly-Rommel, PLLC, Texarkana, TX, John Gravante, III, Steven C. Marks, Robert C. Josefsberg, Podhurst Orseck, P.A., Miami, FL, Brian Douglas Penny, Goldman Scarlato & Penny, Wayne, PA, Craig L. Briskin, Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, Wasington, DC, M. Stephen Dampier, Law Offices of M. Stephen Dampler, PC, Fairhope, AL, Francis J. Flynn, J, P.C., Michael J. Flannery, Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP, St. Louis, MO, Tiffany M. Yiatras, Carey and Danis, Clayton, MO, Tracy D. Rezvani, The Rezvani Law Firm LLC, Rockville, MD, Bruce Daniel Greenberg, Lite Depalma Greenberg, LLC, Newark, NJ, Joseph Lopiccolo, John N. Poulos, Poulos Lopiccolo PC, Ocean Township, NJ, Casey Langston Lott, Langston Lott PA, Booneville, MS, Guri Ademi, John D. Blythin, Shpetim Ademi, Ademi & O'Reilly, LLP, Cudahy, WI, Carl A. Frankovitch, Michael G. Simon, Frankovitch, Anetakis, Colantonio & Simon, Weirton, WV, Carla Voigt, Nathan Cihlar, Straus & Boies, LLP, Fairfax, VA, Eric J. Pickar, Bangs McCullen Butler Foye & Simmons, Rapid City, SD, James M. Terrell, Robert G. Methvin, Jr., McCallum, Methvin & Terrell, PA, Birmingham, AL, Robert A. Blake, Jr., Wyatt & Blake, LLP, Charlotte, NC, Geoffrey Joseph Spreter, Spreter Law Firm, APC, Coronado, CA, Ari Y. Basser, Markun, Zusman, Freniere and Compton LLP, Pacific Palisades, CA, for In re Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust.

ORDER

HARVEY E. SCHLESINGER, United States District Judge

Starting in June 2013, Defendant contact lens manufacturers, Alcon Laboratories, Inc.("Alcon"), Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. ("JJVC"), Bausch & Lomb Inc.("B&L"), and CooperVision, Inc.("CV")(collectively "Manufacturer Defendants") imposed mandatory minimum prices on a number of disposable contact lens products.Plaintiffs, who are consumers of disposable contact lenses, have sued the Manufacturer Defendants and distributor ABB Concise Optical Group, LLC("ABB"), alleging that Defendants' conduct violates Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and various state statutes.This multi-district litigation ("MDL") class action antitrust case is before the Court on Manufacturer Defendants' Motion and Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Corrected Consolidated Class Action Complaint (Doc. 145; Manufacturers' Motion), and Defendant ABB Optical Group's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Corrected Consolidated Class Action Complaint and Memorandum of Law in Support of Same.(Doc. 146; ABB's Motion).Plaintiffs filed Plaintiffs' Omnibus Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants' Motions to Dismiss.(Doc. 185;Plaintiffs' Response).The Manufacturer Defendants filed a Reply Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Corrected Consolidated Class Action Complaint (Doc. 191; Manufacturers' Reply), and ABB filed Defendant Optical Group's Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Corrected Consolidated Class Action Complaint and Memorandum of Law in Support of Same.(Doc. 190; ABB's Reply).The Court heard argument of counsel regarding the Motions at a hearing, conducted on March 31, 2016, the record of which is incorporated herein.See(Doc. 210; Clerk's Minutes); (Doc. 214; Transcript).

I.Background

This multidistrict antitrust litigation was centralized before this Court on June 10, 2015, by order of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation("MDL Panel").(Doc. 1; Transfer Order).It arises out of pricing policies adopted by contact lens manufacturers with regard to the distribution and sale of certain contact lens products.The operative complaint, Plaintiffs' Corrected Consolidated Class Action Complaint (Doc. 135; Complaint), filed on November 23, 2015, is a six-count Complaint brought by fourteen individual Plaintiffs suing on behalf of themselves, and on behalf of a class of Plaintiffs consisting of "all persons and entities in the United States who made a retail purchase ... of disposable contact lenses ("contact lenses") manufactured by [the Manufacturer Defendants] ... subject to one of the ‘Unilateral Pricing Policies'(‘UPPs') described herein from June I, 2013 to the present."Complaint¶ 1: see alsoid.¶¶ 42–45, 48.The individual Plaintiffs("Plaintiffs") are: Rachel Berg, Miriam Pardoll, Elyse Ulino, Jennifer Sineni, Susan Gordon, Cora Beth Smith, Brett Watson, Kathleen Schirf, Tamara O'Brien, John Machikawa, Amanda Cunha, Alexis Ito, Catherine Dingle, and Sheryl Marcan.Complaint¶¶ 28–41.

II.The Complaint

A.Introduction

The focus of Plaintiffs' claims is the implementation and enforcement of "Unilateral Pricing Policies"("UPPs") adopted and enforced by the Manufacturer Defendants, as they apply to the market for disposable (soft) contact lenses ("contact lenses").Disposable contact lenses comprise 90% of the contact lenses sold in the United States.SeeComplaint¶ 64.Plaintiffs characterize these pricing policies as a "minimum resale price maintenance scheme"("MRPM").Complaint¶ 9.For ease of reference, and without passing judgment on the import of the name, the Court will refer to these pricing policies as "UPPs."When considering a motion to dismiss, "the court is limited to what appears on the face of the complaint."Jacobs v. Tempur–Pedic Int' l , Inc. , 626 F.3d 1327, 1340(11th Cir.2010).The Court must accept all factual allegations in the Complaint as true, consider the...