Owen Masters
Associate
Subscribe to all posts by Owen Masters
As state investigators across the country launch price gouging investigations, one thing is becoming clear – state price gouging investigations can look a lot like antitrust investigations. Price gouging enforcement is at an all-time high, and more and more it is being combined with antitrust and unfair trade practice investigations. This overlap can be bad … Continue Reading
Though much attention has been paid to state price gouging laws, several states without price gouging laws have nevertheless been active enforcers. Governors in many of these states have issued executive orders empowering their enforcers to target price gouging. Other states have repurposed existing laws to target price gouging. Price gouging in these states may … Continue Reading
State Attorneys General are not the only ones enforcing price gouging laws in the current pandemic. Many states also provide a private right of action for victims of price gouging. Depending on the state, private litigants may seek injunctions, civil penalties, or even damages under state price gouging statutes and consumer protection laws. These remedies, … Continue Reading
Proskauer’s antitrust practice group has developed a State Price Gouging Laws: A Coast-to-Coast Reference Guide to help your business manage price gouging compliance during the COVID-19 emergency. State price gouging measures cast a wide and varied range of coverage, such that compliance at the national level means knowing each state’s covered products and services, permitted … Continue Reading
Price gouging complaints around the country have been skyrocketing and Michigan is no exception. Between March 5, 2019, and April 14, 2019, Michigan had 80 price gouging complaints. During the same period in 2020, Michigan received 3,541 complaints – an increase of 4,326 percent. Michigan has been under a state of emergency since March 10, … Continue Reading
Over the past month, state enforcers have declared a war on price gouging, but some of the most effective enforcers have not been the states. Online platforms and other large retailers have taken extraordinary steps to restrict price gouging, and their monitoring has already led to hundreds of thousands of items pulled from e-commerce websites. … Continue Reading
Due to the unprecedented length of the current COVID-19 emergency, price gouging laws that once focused solely on retail prices, now are being applied to participants throughout the entire supply chain. At the beginning of the COVID-19 emergency, state enforcers focused on increases in retail prices to consumers. However, enforcers now are opening investigations and taking enforcement … Continue Reading
When it comes to price gouging in the Lone Star State, Attorney General Ken Paxton is sending a message: don’t mess with Texas. On March 26, 2020, AG Paxton accused Auctions Unlimited, a Texas auctioneer, of price gouging disinfectant wipes, hand soaps, and 750,000 N95 respirator masks. Bidding for just 16 N95 respirator masks went … Continue Reading
In the past month, Florida’s Attorney General has received thousands of complaints about price gouging across the state. As a result, Florida is taking action. Attorney General Ashley Moody has issued dozens of subpoenas to third-party sellers on Amazon and secured thousands in refunds for consumers. The AG’s office has also been working with online … Continue Reading
Even though states are leading the way on price gouging enforcement, recent action in Congress may lead to overlapping federal government enforcement. Recent Congressional letters, statements, and proposed bills show a strong appetite for action on price gouging. House Democrats tried but failed to add price gouging language to the coronavirus relief package in March. … Continue Reading
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, New York Attorney General Letitia James has stated her office will be aggressive in prosecuting price gouging. On March 10, AG James stated, “we will not tolerate schemes or frauds designed to turn large profits by exploiting people’s health concerns.” The NY Office of Attorney General (“OAG”) is tasked with enforcing … Continue Reading
In early March, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a consumer alert on price gouging. Two weeks later, police in San Diego arrested eight people for price gouging. The same week, investigations by Sacramento authorities prompted new warnings from local authorities. Since then, both the Governor and Attorney General have indicated price gouging will remain … Continue Reading
Plaintiffs often try to define the broadest possible class at the outset of a case on the belief that the scope of the class can be refined on class certification after discovery has been completed. For this strategy to work, however, plaintiffs must get past the pleading stage. Historically, this has not been too difficult … Continue Reading
It was a tragedy. The 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and Steven Gaines almost ended the band Lynyrd Skynyrd forever. In the wake of the crash, the survivors swore an oath never again to perform as “Lynyrd Skynyrd.” That oath made its way to court where it would be memorialized in a … Continue Reading
Pricing in an Emergency: Where Price Gouging Meets Antitrust
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters, Nicollette R. Moser and Jennifer Tarr on Posted in Antitrust, Litigation, Price Gouging
No Country for Price Gouging: States Can Punish Price Gouging Without Price Gouging-Specific Laws
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters, Nicollette R. Moser and Jennifer Tarr on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
Can You Sue for Price Gouging?
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters, Nicollette R. Moser and Jennifer Tarr on Posted in Antitrust, Class Action, Price Gouging
State Price Gouging Laws: A Coast-to-Coast Reference Guide
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters, Nicollette R. Moser and Jennifer Tarr on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
A Spartan Approach to Price Gouging in Michigan
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters, Nicollette R. Moser and Jennifer Tarr on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
Price Gouging Takedowns – The Online Platforms Have a Say
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
Price Gouging Laws and Covid-19: What Supply Chain Businesses Should Know
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
Don’t Mess With Texas: Price Gouging in the Lone Star State
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
Florida Man Fined For… Price Gouging?
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, Price Gouging
The House Targets Price Gouging, Again
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, Federal Rules, Price Gouging
$79.99 For Hand Sanitizer? New York AG Says Not While In My Hands
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, New York Rules, Price Gouging
California’s Crackdown on the Price Gouging Gold Rush
By Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Owen Masters and Nicollette R. Moser on Posted in Antitrust, California Rules, Price Gouging
Attacking Class Certification on a Motion to Dismiss? A Recent Decision Says There is a Way
By Colin Kass, David Munkittrick and Owen Masters on Posted in Antitrust, Class Action
The Lynyrd Skynyrd Texting Case: Spoliation and Non-Party Texts
By Owen Masters on Posted in Commercial Litigation, E-Discovery, Evidence, Media and Technology
