In our most recent antitrust appeal, we appeared before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of national interest — Aya Healthcare Services, Inc. v. AMN Healthcare, Inc. In this case, we represented the plaintiff, a successful national healthcare staffing agency, which alleged that the defendant, the largest healthcare staffing agency in the country, had used unlawful no-poaching restraints and other contractual trade restraints in ways that unlawfully restrained and monopolized trade in violation of the Sherman Act. After denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted summary judgment for the defendant in a published opinion, doing so after more than three years of closely contested litigation in which we were opposed by a leading antitrust attorney from Washington, D.C. and his team of capable litigators.
On appeal, the Ninth Circuit issued its own published opinion, which affirmed the District Court’s judgment. Of note, the Antitrust Division of U.S. Department of Justice intervened on appeal to express its agreement with our statement of the antitrust law. Although we did not win, we capably conducted a major, nationwide antitrust litigation from start to finish in a closely fought case that resulted in two published decisions, and we credibly presented our clients’ claims and then raised a significant appellate challenge. Here are redacted versions of our submissions: Appellant’s Opening Brief and Appellant’s Reply Brief. They are representative of the kind of work that we perform at the highest level when called upon to do so.
Case Name: Aya Healthcare Services, Inc. v. AMN Healthcare, Inc. (9th Cir. 2021, Case No. 20–55679).