MAX THEILER
Head of Competition
Director
At Fideres, we specialize in antitrust litigation and other forms of market abuse that distort competition. We assist law firms and regulators throughout the process of litigation, from filing to settlement. We are known for our innovative solutions to some of the thorniest problems in competition economics, and for our expertise in identifying and combining data from a variety of sources.
Competition regimes around the world are in a state of flux. In an ever-more consolidated and digital competition landscape, increasingly sophisticated infractions, shifting standards, and new legislative priorities will affect how markets are defined, how harm is quantified, and who can most appropriately bring a claim. We understand that traditional, cookie-cutter approaches will be a poor fit for the most crucial cases of the coming decade. That is why our clients have come to rely on Fideres’s tailored and uniquely entrepreneurial approach to help them carve out new opportunities, solve new problems, and carry cases through to a successful outcome.
For any Competition Economics related enquiries please contact Max Theiler at max.theiler@fideres.com
Cartels
Abuse of dominance and collective abuse of dominance
Attempted monopolisation
Excessive pricing
Exclusionary conduct
Refuse to deal
Margin squeeze
Predatory pricing
Resale price maintenance
Non-compete and no-poaching agreements
Market sharing agreements
In-depth industry analysis (e.g. industry structure, flow of goods/services, key players)
Market definition and SSNIP test
Counterfactual price modelling
‘Plus Factors’ analysis
Parallel price conduct
Pricing data monitoring
Pass-through/pass-on analysis
Demand/supply elasticity analysis
Expert reports
Expert witness testimony
Merits reports
Plan of allocation and settlement distribution
Damages analysis
Data analysis
Since the 2008-09 financial crisis, Fideres has historically taken a leading role in the discovery, analysis, and settlement of cases in financial markets, and finance remains the core area of our expertise. Our work has driven cases ranging from the coordinated manipulation of interest rate benchmarks to the inflation of prices in foreign exchange markets to the mis-selling of key debt instruments. Investigations by Fideres continue to shed light on the often subtle ways in which bad actors in this sector collude to game markets and mislead investors. Sample cases include:
SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 1:16-cv-03711
Mancinelli v. Royal Bank of Canada, CV-15-536174-00CP
J Wisbey & Associates Pty Ltd v UBS AG, VID 567 of 2019
Allianz Global Investors GmbH v. Bank Of America Corporation, 1:18-cv-10364-LGS
Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 1:18-cv-02830
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited v The Competition Commission Of South Africa, CR212Feb17
FDIC Libor Claims, FL-2017-000002
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, VID197/2016
SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 1:16-cv-03711-ER
Torus Capital, LLC v. Bank of Nova Scotia, New York Agency, 1:16-cv-05437
Treasury Securities Auction Antitrust Litigation, 1:15-md-02673
Commodity Exchange, Inc., Gold Futures and Options Trading Litigation, 1:14-md-02548
Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. Bank Of America Corporation, 1:14-cv-07126
Credit Default Swaps Antitrust Litigation, 1:13-md-02476
Graiseley Properties Limited and others v. Barclays Bank PLC, EWHC 3093, 2012 FOLIO 1259
Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, 1:11-md-02262
Fideres has a wealth of experience in analysing competition within digital markets and emerging technologies such as blockchain. From defining markets for multi-sided platforms, to exploring anti-competitive conduct by large firms that benefit from strong network effects and large economies of scale and scope and who set zero prices and extract data. This experience is helping us to investigate and develop cases, and to provide expert testimony to courts and expert advice to clients working on complaints against many of the biggest monopolists in the sector. Sample cases include:
Cherry v. RealPage Inc., 2:22-cv-01618
Floyd v. Amazon.com Inc., 2:22-cv-01599
Affinity Credit Union v. Apple Inc., 4:22-cv-04174
Brown et al v. Amazon.com Inc., 2:22-cv-00965
Forest River Farms v. Deere & Co., 1:22-cv-00188
Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen v. Meta Platforms, Inc. and Others, 1433/7/7/22
Amazon.com, Inc. eBook Antitrust Litigation, 1:21-cv-00351
West et al v. Amazon.com Inc., 2:21-cv-00694
Bookends & Beginnings LLC v. Amazon.com Inc., 1:21-cv-02584
Arbitration Cryptocurrency Dispute
Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation, 1:19-cv-09236
Cameron v. Apple Inc., 4:19-cv-03074-YGR
Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, 4:18-cv-02518
Robert Hammond v. Amazon.com, Inc. & Others, 1595/7/7/23
Fideres has been crucial to the filing and prosecution of a number of high-profile US commodities cases. Our successes in this area have included our novel microeconomic analysis of pricing and cost structures in the meatpacking and DRAM industries, and our use of complex auction pricing data from precious metal futures markets to show how these commodities were systematically overpriced by cartels. Sample cases include:
Peterson v. Agri Stats, Inc., 0:19-cv-01129
Turkey Antitrust Litigation, 1:19-cv-08318
Pork Antitrust Litigation, 0:18-cv-1776
JPMorgan Precious Metals Spoofing Litigation, 1:18-cv-10356
London Silver Fixing v. London Silver Fixing, 1:14-mc-02573-VEC
Commodity Exchange, Inc., Gold Futures and Options Trading Litigation, 1:14-md-02548-VEC
Pharmaceuticals and healthcare markets can seem as intricate and opaque as they are vital to consumers wellbeing, which makes them crucial sectors for antitrust scrutiny. Our analysis of drug pricing data helps to identify the markets in which pharmaceutical manufacturers collude to raise prices, and our expert testimony on the economics of drug industry helps plaintiffs recover damages. In healthcare markets, Fideres has led pioneering work on market definition and overcharge analysis in the increasingly-concentrated and expensive regional hospital markets of the United States. Sample cases include:
Snow v. Align Technology, Inc., 3:21-cv-03269
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority v. Mylan N.V., 1:20-cv-01342
Tulsa Firefighters Health and Welfare Trust v. Allergan PLC, 2:16-cv-01388
EpiPen ERISA Litigation (Klein v. Prime Therapeutics, LLC), 0:17-cv-01884
Hospital Monopolization Antitrust Class Action, 16-CVS-16404
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 178 Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., 2:17-cv-01361
Neca-Ibew Wefare Trust Fund v. Actavis Holdco U.S., Inc., 2:17-cv-00629
Teamsters Local Union No. 727 Health & Welfare Fund v. Mylan, Inc., 3:17-cv-01124
Neca-Ibew Welfare Trust Fund v. Teligent, Inc., 1:16-cv-09398
Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation (Digoxin), 2:16-md-02724
Neca-Ibew Welfare Trust Fund v. Akorn, Inc., 1:16-cv-08109
