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Ex-FTC lawyers form new firm targeting US antitrust enforcement ‘gaps'
June 17 (Reuters) - Three former U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawyers and a U.S. attorney who resigned in January opened a new plaintiffs law firm on Tuesday focused on unfair competition, price discrimination and other antitrust law violations.
They are launching the New York-based firm, Simonsen Sussman, as private antitrust litigation has surged in recent years, and as the FTC has shed staff under the second Trump administration.
Catherine Simonsen, Shaoul Sussman and Nicolas Stebinger, who departed senior roles at the FTC in recent months, formed the firm with Kate Brubacher, a former U.S. attorney for Kansas during the Biden administration.
The firm said underutilized laws and institutional constraints at federal agencies have left "gaps" in antitrust enforcement that the lawyers hope to fill.
'We've seen courts starting to understand that corporate interests have gone too far,' Simonsen told Reuters.
The FTC under Trump has sought to trim the agency's headcount by about 10%. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson told Congress last month that 94 employees so far this year have departed the agency, leaving 1,221 full-time employees.
The FTC in May abandoned a lawsuit accusing Pepsi of violating the decades-old Robinson-Patman Act. The law can restrict a seller from providing discounts, rebates and other pricing deals to some buyers, but not all.
Ferguson questioned whether the case filed in the waning days of the Biden administration had been adequately investigated. Pepsi had denied any wrongdoing.
Attorneys at the new firm said the Robinson-Patman Act was one example of where plaintiffs firms could use existing, underused laws to target alleged wrongdoing.
They also pointed to California's powerful unfair competition law.
A federal judge in California found Apple violated that state provision, but not federal antitrust law, in a high profile case lodged by 'Fortnite' maker Epic Games. Apple has denied any wrongdoing.
Read more:
FTC drops case against Pepsi alleging price discrimination
US FTC chair seeks to trim agency by around 10%
Fired FTC commissioners seek to fast-track case over dismissal
Convenience stores sue Pepsi and Frito-Lay, alleging price discrimination
