Antitrust: Mainly Plaintiff

Gaw | Poe is the leading plaintiff-side law firm in the country in litigating the Robinson-Patman Act—a federal antitrust law that prohibits price discrimination in the sale of goods—and its California analogue, the Unfair Practices Act. The firm obtained the first RPA (and UPA) jury verdict in favor of a plaintiff in more than 25 years in the matter of L.A. Int’l Corp., et. al. v. Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc., 168 F.4th 608 (2026), and additionally obtained one of the most recent and consequential appellate decisions regarding the RPA in U.S. Wholesale Outlet v. Innovation Ventures, 89 F.4th 1126 (9th Cir. 2023). 

Gaw | Poe has successfully obtained settlements in four other RPA lawsuits for millions of dollars. Partner Mark Poe is considered one of the leading experts in RPA litigation in the country and has provided presentations on the RPA to the FTC, various ABA groups, and the National Grocers Association.

In other antitrust matters, in 2016, Gaw | Poe obtained a $44 million trebled damages jury verdict for a plaintiff under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which was subsequently affirmed on appeal in Trendsettah, et. al. v. Swisher, 761 Fed. Appx. 714 (9th Cir. 2019). In that lawsuit, the plaintiff was a cigarillo manufacturer who was subjected to various anticompetitive acts by the defendant cigarillo manufacturer once it learned that the plaintiff’s new cigarillo products were rapidly taking market share from the defendant.