Robins Kaplan LLP Files First Complaint on Behalf of Indirect Purchasers of Contact Lenses in the United States, Alleging Price-Fixing Conspiracy

New York, NY (March 9, 2015) - National law firm Robins Kaplan LLP has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the four dominant manufacturers and the largest nationwide distributor of contact lenses. The complaint, filed on behalf of consumers of contact lenses in the U.S., alleges CooperVision, Inc., Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Bausch + Lomb, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., along with wholesale distributor ABB Optical Group, conspired to eliminate discount competition by implementing coordinated price floors, causing prices for contact lenses to dramatically rise since 2013.

“This lawsuit seeks to restore competition in the U.S market for contact lenses. As a result of these price floors, the 40 million consumers who purchase contact lenses each year are precluded from shopping around for the best priced lenses,” said Hollis Salzman, Partner in the Antitrust Trade & Regulation group at Robins Kaplan LLP. “Not only are these price floors unfair, but as we allege in our complaint, they also violate U.S. antitrust law.”

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on the use of these pricing policies last summer, and numerous complaints on the issue have been made to the Federal Trade Commission since then.