Boies Schiller Flexner argued on behalf of Sanford Health at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case over Sanford's planned merger with the Mid Dakota Clinic. Partner Bob Cooper's arguments for lifting a preliminary injunction on the merger were covered by Law360, Courthouse News, and MLex.
“These legal errors, and they are legal errors, led to a decision that treats the Clayton Act as a law that proscribes any merger unless the merging parties can prove their transaction is at least competitively neutral. That’s not the law,” Cooper told the court. “The law does not demand that private business owners, who wish to sell a business they created, even to a competitor, must prove, much less clearly show, a total absence of any alleged anticompetitive effects.”
LAW360: Standard Too High On ND Drs. Group Merger, 8th Circ. Told (subscription)
COURTHOUSE NEWS: North Dakota Clinic Merger Hits Eighth Circuit