In Re: Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation

Brattle was retained by the Plaintiffs’ counsel to conduct relevant economic and empirical analyses.

Background

In the multidistrict litigation case, In Re: Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation, the class of plaintiffs raised allegations of price fixing in the municipal derivatives industry among more than 30 major financial institutions. The lawsuits cite past investigations of local government bid-rigging conducted by the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Internal Revenue Service as prompting the allegations.

The Plaintiffs, consisting of cities, counties, and states, alleged that the conspiracy deprived class members of money they would have otherwise received from their investments of the proceeds from municipal bond issuances. The alleged conspiracy had been underway since at least 1992.

Brattle’s Role

Brattle was retained by Plaintiffs’ counsel, including attorneys from Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, Hausfeld LLP, and Susman Godfrey LLP, to conduct relevant economic and empirical analyses. Brattle managed and reviewed data submissions from several dozen defendant bank and broker entities, provided various analyses for settlement purposes, and critiqued defendants’ settlement calculations.

Outcome

Plaintiffs reached settlements with the defendants totaling nearly $225 million. The price-fixing settlements were approved by a federal judge in July 2016, and the Plaintiffs’ legal team, supported by Brattle, received the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) award for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice for their work on the case.