Wholesale Grocers defeat class-certification bid in antitrust MDL July 25, 2012

The District Court overseeing a multi-district litigation decided not to certify a class of retail plaintiffs who alleged antitrust violations against the nation's two largest wholesale grocery companies, SuperValu Inc. and C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. In her decision, Judge Ann D. Montgomery found that the plaintiff retailers had not met their burden to show that class-wide antitrust injury could be proven using common evidence. The decision follows the defendants' successful dismissal of plaintiffs with arbitration agreements, a ruling that significantly reduced the size of the putative class. Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. represents SuperValu Inc. in the litigation and in a related Federal Trade Commission investigation that was publicly closed on March 18, 2011.