ST. LOUIS, Nov. 6, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit denied C.R. Bard's Inc.'s ("Bard") (NYSE:BCR) 23(f) Petition seeking to overturn class certification yesterday in Southeast Missouri Hospital, et. al v. C. R. Bard Inc., an antitrust action pending against the company. The plaintiffs in the case are a certified class of hospitals who purchased catheters pursuant to Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) contracts, the primary means through which sales of urological catheters to hospitals occur, between February 2003 and the present. A trial is scheduled for April 2009 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The lawsuit charges that Bard overcharged the plaintiffs for urological catheters through use of anticompetitive practices in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, Section 3 of the Clayton Act, and analogous claims under Missouri law. The plaintiffs allege that Bard engaged in anticompetitive practices through (1) entering into exclusionary contracts with GPOs that substantially limited the ability of GPO hospital members to purchase urological catheters from Bard's competitors; (2) within these exclusionary GPO contracts, imposing market share purchase requirements that penalized GPO hospital members that did not purchase all (or nearly all) of their urological catheters from Bard; (3) within these exclusionary GPO contracts, imposing additional penalties on hospitals that did not purchase Bard's urological catheters as part of a bundle of other (unrelated) products.
Plaintiffs are represented by Kirby McInereny LLP, Cook Barkett Maguire & Ponder, L.C., Rusty Hardin & Associates, McCulley McCluer PLLC, and Straus & Boies, LLP. For further information concerning this matter, please contact Kenneth Walsh at (212) 371-6600 or kwalsh@kmllp.com.
About Kirby McInerney, LLP.
Kirby McInerney LLP is a New York-based law firm focusing on antitrust, securities, consumer, and healthcare fraud matters. The firm has been protecting the rights of shareholders, consumers, public entities, and businesses from securities, antitrust, and other corporate misconduct for 60 years. During this time it has procured significant success and recoveries for its clients, and has secured landmark victories in the securities litigation arena.
More information about the firm, class actions in general, or about the role of the lead plaintiffs in a antitrust, consumer, securities or healthcare class action case please contact Laura Parcells at 212.371.6600 or lparcells@kmllp.com or visit Kirby McInerney LLP's website at http://www.kmllp.com.