Antitrust

Kinsella Media has been trusted to provide notice for many of the largest and most complex antitrust settlements in history. From innovative media selections to reach CD and cassette music buyers, to the use of travel websites to reach air passengers in the U.S. and U.K., Kinsella Media formulates targeted notice programs grounded in a thorough understanding of class demographics and media habits.

 

Selected Case Experience: Consumer

In re International Air Transportation Surcharge Antitrust Litigation

No. M:06-cv-01793 (N.D. Cal.)

This case, involving allegations that consumers were overcharged on the purchase price of their airline tickets for travel between the United States and the United Kingdom, was one of the first class action lawsuits to be publicized in the U.K. A robust paid media program was necessary due to the fact that the British audience was relatively unfamiliar with class action lawsuits and class member rights. Kinsella Media placed advertisements in numerous national newspapers across the U.K. in a travel magazine, in-flight magazines and on travel websites, such as Expedia.com and LastMinute.com. Additionally, a simultaneous national U.S. notice program incorporated national consumer magazines, travel magazines, newspaper supplements and Internet banner advertising on Expedia.com.

In re Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation

MDL No. 1361 (D. Me.)

Kinsella Media implemented a comprehensive notice plan to reach over 75 million consumers who bought recorded music and were therefore affected by and entitled to a share of the $64 million settlement. The notice program, directed to teens and adults, was structured around advertisements placed in 16 high-circulation national consumer publications, such as Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, People and National Geographic, as well as spots aired on radio stations which comprise the Premier Radio Network and XM Satellite Radio Network. Class members filed 3.5 million claims online.

Sullivan v. DB Investments, Inc.

No. 04-2819 (D.N.J.)

This class action involved allegations that the De Beers Group participated in price-fixing and monopolies within the diamond industry. In order to reach the tens of millions of consumers who purchased diamond jewelry and individuals working in the gem or jewelry industry who were affected by the litigation, Kinsella Media designed and implemented a comprehensive notice program incorporating paid media, earned media and third-party outreach to jeweler associations. The notice program included broad published notice in newspaper supplements, national newspapers, consumer magazines, Spanish-language magazines, a bridal magazine, teen-targeted magazines, publications in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and trade publications targeted to the jewelry industry. In addition to the paid media program, press outreach helped result in hundreds of news stories in print, on radio and on television.

Conroy v. 3M Corporation

No. C-00-2810 (N.D. Cal.)

This notice program, concerning the purchase of invisible and transparent tape, utilized 15 insertions in high-circulating national consumer publications to reach consumers and business managers. Publications included Family Circle, Good Housekeeping and Sports Illustrated, among others, as well as newspapers in the U.S. territories and possessions.

Cox v. Microsoft Corp.

No. 105193/00 (Sup. Ct. N.Y.)

Businesses and consumers who purchased Microsoft software in New York state were reached in a notice program using local newspapers, New York state editions of newspaper supplements and consumer magazines such as Newsweek, PC Magazine and People and Internet advertising. Internet banner advertising appeared on websites such as AOL.com, WallStreetJournal.com, BusinessWeek.com and Lycos.com and was geo-targeted so that only those accessing the Internet from New York state would see the banner ad.

Eugene Higgins v. Archer-Daniels Midland Co.

No. D-0202-CV-200306168 (Bernalillo County Ct., N.M.)

Top business management and adult consumers were the target audiences of this print publication program designed to reach purchasers of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Multiple insertions in 17 trade publications such as Restaurant Business, Frozen Food Age and Food Technology as well as newspaper supplements and consumer magazines such as Reader's Digest and US News and World Report advised class members of their rights in this cy pres settlement.

Giral v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd.

No. 98-CA-7467 (D.C. Super. Ct.)

This class action, involving indirect purchasers of vitamins, included both businesses and consumers who may have paid more for vitamins in food and other products due to alleged antitrust activities. An intensive print media campaign included advertisements in the The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Parade, USA Weekend, Business Week, Inc. Magazine, Money, National Geographic, Newsweek, PC Magazine, People, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, Time and US News and World Report. Advertisements also appeared in 527 daily newspapers, three newspapers in Puerto Rico and 81 trade publications. Kinsella Media also implemented an extensive press outreach to trade, business and agricultural editors and publications.

Sorbates Litigation

Kelley Supply, Inc. v. Eastman Chemical Company, No. 99CV001528 (Wis. Cir. Ct. Dane County) & Orlando's Bakeries v. Eastman Chemical Company, No. 99-560-II (Tenn. Ch. Ct. Davidson County)

These antitrust cases involved potassium sorbate and sorbic acid ("Sorbates"), which are used to inhibit the growth of mold in high moisture and/or high sugar content food products, such as cheese, baked goods, jams, jellies and other processed foods. Notice targeted to industries using Sorbates included newspaper ads in the daily newspapers of 13 states and the District of Columbia and trade publications targeted to industries where Sorbates were widely used.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bear Stearns and Co. Inc.

No. 03 Civ. 2937 (S.D.N.Y.)

In re Motorsports Merchandise Antitrust Litigation

No. 1:97-CV-2314 (N.D. Ga.)

In re Toys "R" Us Antitrust Litigation

No. CV-97-5714, MDL. No. 1211 (E.D.N.Y.)

Florida v. Nine West Group, Inc.

No. 00-CV-1707 (S.D.N.Y.)

Selected Case Experience: Energy

Wholesale Electricity Antitrust Cases I & II

Nos. 4204 & 4205 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Diego County) &

Egger v. Reliant Energy, Inc.

No. 4204-00009 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Diego County)

Kinsella Media designed a notification program reaching electricity consumers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The publication notice appeared in the statewide editions of consumer magazines and newspaper supplements and in local daily newspapers in the nine states involved in the proposed settlement. Kinsella Media also used community newspapers to target Hispanic and Asian audiences in the states with a Hispanic and/or Asian population percentage above the national average.

Gordon v. Duke Energy Trading and Marketing.

No. GIC 842705 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Diego County) &

Egger v. Duke Energy Trading and Marketing

No. GIC 843055 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Diego County)

Natural Gas Anti-Trust Cases I, II, III & IV

Nos. 4221, 4224, 4226 & 4228 (Cal. Super. Ct. San Diego County)

Selected Case Experience: Pharmaceutical

In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litigation

No. CA:01-CV-12257, MDL No. 1456 (D. Mass.)

New England Carpenters Health Benefits Fund v. First DataBank, Inc.

No. 1:05-CV-11148 (D. Mass.)

In re State of Ohio v. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Co.

No. 1:02-CV-01080 (D.D.C.)

In re Buspirone Antitrust Litigation

MDL No. 1413 (S.D.N.Y.)

In re Cardizem CD Antitrust Litigation

200 F.R.D. 326 (E.D. Mich.)

Connecticut v. Mylan Laboratories, Inc.

No. 1:98-CV-3115, MDL No. 1290 (D.D.C.)

For additional case experience, please view our Pharmaceutical Case Experience.

"[T]he notice distribution was excellently designed, reasonably calculated to reach potential class members, and ultimately highly successful in doing so… [T]he notice program provided the best practicable notice under the circumstances and complied with the requirements of both 15 U.S.C. 15c(b)(1) and Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure."

— Judge D. Brock Hornby
In re Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation MDL No. 1361 (D. Me.)

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Contact us before the settlement is complete to discuss a media notice plan that reaches class members using plain language, meets CAFA requirements and meets quantifiable measures of adequacy.

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