Yetter Coleman LLP, along with highly respected co-counsel, has secured full dismissal in less than a year of an antitrust class action against client Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a private equity firm focusing on healthcare investments. All claims were dismissed with prejudice.
The Sept. 27 victory comes after the firm secured a similar result for Welsh Carson earlier this year in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit over the same alleged anticompetitive conduct.
At issue in both cases was Welsh Carson’s investment in U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. (USAP). The FTC suit alleged that certain Welsh Carson affiliates and USAP engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts, including a roll-up strategy, in buying anesthesia practices in Texas and other states. The class action was filed six weeks later when benefits funds for two Houston unions sued Welsh Carson and USAP, leveraging the FTC’s allegations and seeking treble damages plus injunctive relief. In both cases, Welsh Carson argued that the transactions were completed long ago and that it has been only a minority investor in USAP since 2017. The litigation was closely followed in the finance industry as it marked the first time that federal regulators had pursued private equity investors for alleged anticompetitive conduct by a portfolio company.
Courts in both cases sided with the firm’s Welsh Carson clients. In May, a Texas federal judge threw out the FTC’s case, finding there was no alleged “conduct by Welsh Carson in the past six years that is a plausible antitrust violation.” Now, a second federal judge in Texas has tossed the tagalong private class action on similar grounds.
“We are pleased the courts took a careful look at these lawsuits, recognized the fatal defects in both cases and dismissed our clients with finality,” said Paul Yetter, partner of Yetter Coleman.
The Yetter Coleman team also included partners Tyler P. Young and Matthew C Zorn and associates Kay Dannenmaier, Samuel Rossum and Luke A. Schamel. The firm worked closely with Ropes & Gray LLP as co-counsel to the Welsh Carson clients.
About Yetter Coleman LLP
Yetter Coleman is a single-mission commercial litigation boutique based in Houston. We represent clients nationwide in high-stakes trials, arbitrations, and appeals across a range of industries and areas, including energy, transportation, financial services, technology, business torts, corporate governance, intellectual property, antitrust, and securities.