Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

For 20 years, Michelle Fischer has focused on antitrust litigation, including class actions, and counseling in such industries as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, tobacco, food, beverages, and automotive components. In addition to serving as trial counsel in several cases, she has extensive experience in matters involving price discrimination, monopolization/attempted monopolization, price-fixing, intellectual property, distribution issues, associations, tying, refusals to deal, and exclusive dealing. Michelle also co-coordinates the Firm's practice involving application of antitrust law to issues involving intellectual property.

Michelle's experience includes appearing before federal district and appellate courts, including as trial counsel for sanofi-aventis in defending against a class action claim that the company engaged in unlawful monopolization by filing an allegedly sham citizen petition with the FDA, R.J. Reynolds in defending against a retail price discrimination claim, Schwarz Pharma in prosecuting antitrust counterclaims in an infringement suit, and Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation in defending against infringement claims. Other examples of Michelle's experience include representing Alderwoods in defending against class action price-fixing claims and defeating class certification, and R.J. Reynolds in defending against, and obtaining summary judgment on, claims of wholesale price discrimination.

Michelle is in her second term as chair of the Ohio State Bar Association's Antitrust Section. She has written and/or presented on various antitrust law issues, including proving relevant markets through lay witnesses (ALI-ABA's 2008 "Trying and Winning A Civil Antitrust Case"), selected contract provisions that can raise antitrust concerns (OSBA's 2008 Annual Convention), price discrimination (OSBA's 2006 Antitrust Institute), and Ohio merger law enforcement (2008 OSBA Monograph).

Areas of Practice

• Antitrust & Competition Law
• Antitrust Intellectual Property
• Antitrust Litigation
• Distribution & Robinson-Patman
• General Antitrust Counseling

Representative Cases

• Braintree Laboratories v. Schwarz Pharma, Civil Action No. 03-477-SLR (D. Del.) , (2008)
• Funeral Consumers Alliance v. Service Corporation International, No. H-05-03394 (S.D. Tx.) and Pioneer Valley Casket Company v. Service Corporation International, No. H-05-3399 (S.D. Tx.) , (2009)
• Bard Mfg. Co. v. Eubank Mfg. Enters., Inc., No. 3:00CV7711 (N.D. Ohio 2000)
• Daniel v. Am. Bd. of Emergency Med., 428 F.3d 408 (2d Cir. 2005)
• Eastman Kodak Co. v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., No. CV-2-90-221 (E.D. Tenn., filed Sept. 11, 1990)
• FTC v. Cardinal Health, 12 F.Supp.2d 34 (D.D.C. 1998)
• Gipson Distribs, Inc. v. Frito-Lay, Inc., No. 352269 (Ct. Comm. Pleas, Cuyahoga Cty., Ohio 1998)
• GRiD Sys. Corp. v. Texas Instruments, No. C-90-2571-DLJ (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 6, 1990)
• Leslie H. Dial Enters., Inc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 3:02-4046-22 (D.S.C., filed Dec. 4, 2002)
• LifeNet, Inc. v. Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, Civil Action No. 3:06CV387-HEH (E.D. Va.) , (2009)
• Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co. Inc. v. sanofi-aventis, et al., Case No. 07-7343 (S.D.N.Y.) , (2008)
• Lukens Steel Company v. Tippins Incorporated, No. 93-CV-3331 (E.D. Pa.)
• Nat’l Info. Servs. TRW, Inc., No. 90-863-PA, 1992 WL 715632 (D. Or. Sep. 9, 1992), aff’d, 52 F.3d 334 (9th Cir. 1995) (table)
• Nestle U.S.A., Inc. v. Sara Lee Baking Group, No. 1:01 CV 2074 (N.D. Ohio, filed Aug. 28, 2001)
• PepsiCo, Inc. v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 98 Civ. 3282 (LAP), 1998 WL 547088 (S.D.N.Y., Aug. 27, 1998)
• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Premium Tobacco Stores, No. 99 C 1174, 2005 WL 293512 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 15, 2004), aff'd, 462 F.3d 690 (7th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, No. 06-848, 2007 U.S. LEXIS 2142 (Feb. 20, 2007)
• Schukra of N. Am. Ltd. v. Textron Automotive Functional Components, Inc., No. 97-73743 (E.D. Mich. 1997)
• Smith Wholesale Co. v. H.T. Hackney Corp. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. C10050, Carter County Circuit Court
• Smith Wholesale Co. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 65-6053, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 4254 (6th Cir. Feb. 27, 2007)
• TRW Fin. Sys. v. Unisys Corp., No. 90-CV-71252-DT (E.D. Mich., filed May 4, 1990)
• Antitrust and Other White Collar Investigations
• Antitrust Grand Jury Investigation
• Antitrust Grand Jury Investigation
• Gibson Greetings Acquisition
• Sorbates Price-Fixing Litigation
• Wausau Medical Center Acquisition

West Practice Categories

Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Antitrust Law, Business & Commercial Law, Complex Litigation, Copyrights, Deceptive Trade Practices, Intellectual Property Law, International Antitrust, International Intellectual Property, Litigation & Appeals, Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures, Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures, Patents, RICO Act, Trade Regulation, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Unfair Competition

Bar Admissions

• Ohio

Education

• U of Chicago

Published Works

• Antitrust Alert: Federal Circuit Decision Highlights Possible Antitrust Risks in Patent Pools, 2009
• Antitrust Risks in Settling Patent Cases: The FTC and Congress Continue the Attack, While the Courts Continue To Be Unimpressed, 2009
• The Sixth and Seventh Circuits Provide Practical Robinson-Patman Guidance to Businesses, 2007
• Recent Developments in HSR Reform, 2001

Address

North Point
901 Lakeside Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114-1190

Phones

1.216.586.7096 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.216.579.0212 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com