William M. Hannay
Partner
Chicago
312.258.5617
E-mail

Marci A. Eisenstein
Partner, Executive Committee Member, Diversity Committee Co-Chair
Chicago
312.258.5545
E-mail

Insurance Antitrust Litigation

Schiff Hardin's attorneys have played leading roles in numerous antitrust cases involving property-casualty insurance. These cases include allegations of:

• Price-fixing
• Nationwide boycotts
• Insurance boycotts
• Boycotts in the commercial automobile residual market

Among our most notable experiences in insurance antitrust litigation, Schiff Hardin was involved in a case that led to a precedent-setting decision on the McCarran-Ferguson Act. In Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. California, 113 S.Ct. 2891 (1993), 19 state attorneys general filed complaints alleging that defendant insurers — including companies based in the United Kingdom — conspired to force other primary insurers to change the terms of their standard U.S. commercial general liability insurance policies to conform with policies the defendants wanted to sell.

The Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's decision, rejecting the conclusion that the defendant insurers were entitled to antitrust immunity under the McCarran-Ferguson Act. The U.S. Supreme Court held that foreign companies could be held liable if they attempted to restrain trade in the United States.

This landmark case is just one example of the leading roles our attorneys have played in antitrust cases involving a range of insurance industry issues.