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2013

TOP VERDICTS NY

-Continued from p10
North China Pharmaceutical Group Corp.,
Weisheng Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd.,
Burnham was assigned 55 percent of the liability, and the remaining liability was assigned Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd.

to parties that were not involved in the trial.
Vincent’s estate’s damages totaled $20 million. Burnham was assigned 21 percent DEFENDANT
of the liability; Cleaver-Brooks was assigned 21 percent of the liability; and the EXPERT(S)
Professor Shen Sibao, Beijing, China
remaining liability was assigned to parties that were not involved in the trial. Burnham’s Lawrence Wu Antitrust (Economics); San Francisco, CA
monetary obligations total $42.2 million, and Cleaver-Brooks’ monetary obligations
total $30.54 million.
FACTS & ALLEGATIONS In 2001, plaintiff Animal Science Products Inc., a Nacogdoches,
Plaintiffs’ counsel reported that offsets may be applied to those amounts.
Texas-based provider of feed, plaintiff Dennis Audette, plaintiff Linda Philion and

plaintiff The Ranis Co. Inc., an Elizabeth, N.J.-based provider of drugs and supplements,
ANNATOLIA purchased vitamin C that was manufactured by China-based corporations. During the
ASSENZIO
$32,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Medical Cost
ensuing year, Chinese suppliers satisfied more than 80 percent of U.S.-based consumers’
demand for vitamin C. The plaintiffs claimed that the Chinese suppliers conspired to fix
ESTATE OF pricing of the vitamin.
SANTO Animal Science Products, Audette, Philion, Ranis and a class of other companies and
ASSENZIO
$20,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain and Suffering
individuals sued the companies that were alleged to have been involved in the price-
fixing conspiracy. The defendants comprised Jiangsu, China-based Aland (Jiangsu)

ESTATE OF Nutraceutical Co. Ltd.; Wanchai, Hong Kong-based China Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.;
ROBERT Arcadia, Calif.-based Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.; an affiliate of Hebei
BRUNCK
$20,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain and Suffering
Welcome Pharmaceutical, Hebei, China-based North China Pharmaceutical Group
Corp.; Shenyang, China-based Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd.; Hebei-based
PAUL LEVY $15,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain and Suffering; Weisheng Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd.; and a subsidiary of the latter company,
$35,000,000 Personal Injury: future pain and suffering (two years)
Arcadia-based Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical (USA) Inc. The plaintiffs alleged that the
defendants’ actions violated § 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and §§ 4 and 16 of the

ROSLYN LEVY $10,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Loss of Consortium
Clayton Antitrust Act.
The court subsequently split the class of plaintiffs. One class comprised companies that
had directly purchased vitamin C, and the other comprised companies and individuals
CESAR O. SERNA
$30,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain and Suffering; that had purchased products that contained vitamin C. The former class and Aland
$30,000,000 Personal Injury: future pain and suffering (1.5 years)
(Jiangsu) Nutraceutical negotiated a pretrial settlement. Aland (Jiangsu) Nutraceutical
agreed to pay $9.5 million. During the trial, the same class, China Pharmaceutical
ESTATE OF Group, and Weisheng Pharmaceutical Group negotiated a settlement. Those defendants

RAYMOND agreed to pay a total of $22.5 million. The other class and Northeast Pharmaceutical
VINCENT
$20,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain and Suffering
Group negotiated another settlement. Northeast Pharmaceutical Group agreed to pay
$500,000. The trial proceeded against Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical and North China
Pharmaceutical Group.
EDITOR’S COMMENT This report is based on information that was provided by
Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical, North China plaintiffs’ counsel and Burnham’s counsel. Cleaver-Brooks’ counsel did not respond to the
Pharmaceutical Group and the remaining defendants voluntarily conspired to fix the reporter’s phone calls, and the remaining defendants’ counsel was not asked to contribute.
price of vitamin C that was sold to U.S.-based consumers. That contention was supported

by testimony of current and former employees of several defendants.
NUMBER TWO
Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical’s counsel acknowledged that the defendants had fixed
the price of vitamin C that was sold to U.S.-based consumers, but they contended that
the act was a product of control that was exercised by China’s government. A Chinese ANTITRUST
governmental official agreed that the government controlled the price of exported
vitamin C. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical’s counsel contended that the defendants Price Fixing — Business Law — Conspiracy
believed that noncompliance would bring substantial penalties.
Chinese manufacturers fixed vitamin’s price,

INJURIES/DAMAGES The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants conspired to fix the price class claimed
of vitamin C that they purchased. They claimed that the conspiracy produced a total
overcharge of $54.1 million.
Defense counsel contended that the plaintiffs did not experience an overcharge.
Alternatively, they contended that any overcharge did not approach $54.1 million.
AMOUNT
$162,300,000

The jury found that Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical and North China Verdict-Plaintiff
RESULT TYPE
Pharmaceutical Group knowingly conspired to fix the price of vitamin C that was export- CASE In Re Vitamin C Antitrust Litigation
ed to the United States. The jury further found that the conspiracy increased the prices VENUE U.S. District Court, EDNY
that were paid by U.S.-based purchasers of the vitamin. It also found that the defendants JUDGE
Brian M. Cogan
did not prove that the conspiracy was compelled by a fear of a government-inflicted
penalty.
DATE
March 14, 2013
The jury determined that the plaintiffs’ damages totaled $54.1 million. Trebling was
imposed by statute. The trebled amount, $162.3 million, was subject to an offset of the TRIAL

amount that the plaintiffs recovered via the settlements.
LENGTH
9 days

EDITOR’S COMMENT This report is based on information that was provided by TRIAL
plaintiffs’ counsel and counsel of Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical and North China DELIBERATION
0.5 day
Pharmaceutical Group. Additional information was gleaned from court documents.
Aland (Jiangsu) Nutraceutical’s counsel confirmed his representation of that party, but PLAINTIFF
he did not provide further feedback. The remaining defendants’ counsel did not respond ATTORNEY(S)
Michael D. Hausfeld of Hausfeld LLP; Washington, DC

to the reporter’s phone calls.
James T. Southwick of Susman Godfrey LLP; Houston, TX
William A. Isaacson of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; Washington, DC
The VerdictSearch Solution
PLAINTIFF
EXPERT(S)
B. Bernheim Ph.D.; Antitrust (Economics); Stanford, CA
Case-Winning Intelligence
on the Web, on the Phone and in Print
DEFENDANT(S)
China Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.,

www.verdictsearch.com
Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.,
Aland (Jiangsu) Nutraceutical Co. Ltd.,

12 VerdictSearch’s Top New York Settlements of 2013