A group of anesthesia businesses are seeking $131.4 million in trebled damages and $7.4 million in legal fees from GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) related to a previously won monopoly case.
The same group of anesthesia companies previously won $43.8 million in damages in a separate case in which a jury determined that GE had “acquired or maintained monopoly power by anticompetitive conduct within relative market,” according to court documents.
Plaintiffs in the case referenced the Clayton act saying the previous damages should be trebled and asked for an aggregate amount of $131.4 million in damages, according to court documents.
In the case, plaintiffs claimed that GE created a policy that made it impossible for them to train their service technicians on new models of GE machines, which would have forced all of the plaintiffs out of business within 5 years, according to a press release from the plaintiff’s counsel McKool Smith.
“The jury worked very hard to consider the facts and weigh the evidence. The verdict was a call for fairness in business, and it was a real victory for the little guys that were brave enough to take on a major corporation. We are delighted with the jury’s verdict,” McKool Smith principal and plaintiff lead trial lawyer Sam Baxter said in a press release.
