John R. Foote

What do you focus on?

My practice is concentrated in three primary areas—competition law, class action defense and other complex commercial litigation.

Competition Law

I counsel clients with respect to their daily business practices, distribution systems and proposed collaborations with competitors, advising on issues ranging from resale price maintenance and other pricing policies to joint ventures. I defend companies sued for price-fixing, concerted refusals to deal, predatory pricing, exclusive dealing and monopolization, and I recently helped a major corporation recover overcharges it paid to an international price-fixing cartel.

Class Action Defense

I defend clients against class actions, and I served on a defense steering committee in a multidistrict litigation involving more than 50 cases and forty defendants. Recently, I successfully opposed certification of a consumer class both in the trial court and on appeal.

Complex Commercial Litigation

I assist clients in complex commercial litigation matters involving insurance, breach of contract, tortious interference and other business disputes. I served as national counsel for a major reinsurer, coordinating the defense of lawsuits throughout the United States seeking coverage under a unique type of insurance policy.

What do you see on the horizon?

I see a continually increasing risk to foreign companies with global product distribution resulting from aggressive, coordinated global enforcement of competition laws by regulators in the United States, the European Union and other countries throughout the world.

Publications

• “Evidence Submitted by the Chinese Government Entitled to Deference in Landmark Vitamin C Case” (with Karl Sung), Newsletter - TerraLex Connections, May 2017 
• “5 Lessons from Clorox Antitrust Case,” Competition Law 360, March 12, 2015
• “Monopsony and Predatory Bidding in the Lumber Industry: The Weyerhaeuser Cases (2007),” published as Case 9 in The Antitrust Revolution: Economics, Competition, and Policy (6th ed. 2013) (co-author)
• “Resale Price Maintenance After Leegin: Defense Perspective” The Journal of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California, Vol 22, No.2, Fall 2013
• “Resale Price Maintenance: Per Se Antitrust Treatment Alive in the States,” WLF Legal Backgrounder, October 19, 2012 (co-author)