Robert Jaffe, of counsel in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, recently released the Health Care, Antitrust and Mergers & Acquisitions Client Alert discussing the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in St. Alphonsus Medical Center v. St. Luke’s Health System, __ F.3d __, No. 14-35173 (9th Cir. Feb. 10, 2015), affirming the order requiring St. Luke’s to divest its recently acquired physicians group Saltzer Medical.

The Client Alert highlights three key takeaways from the Ninth Circuit’s decision: that transactions not subject to a Hart-Scott-Rodino filing may still be challenged for violating the antitrust laws; that a transaction with only future or uncertain anti-competitive impact may substantively violate the antitrust laws; and that divestiture can be ordered for even a completed transaction. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion provides a good roadmap of potential antitrust issues for future health care consolidations and a clear warning against simplistic assumptions that everything will somehow work out.

Mr. Jaffe concentrates his practice in complex commercial litigation, including antitrust, banking, business torts, contract disputes, health care and securities, and provides antitrust counselling for health care providers, financial institutions and other businesses.

To download a printer-friendly copy of this client alert, please click the link below.