Kyle Bates

EXPERIENCE

Antitrust/Competition

• In re Pork Antitrust Litigation - Kyle represents the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the first state plaintiff to pursue a direct action, against the nation's leading pork producers alleged to have conspired to artificially constrict the supply of pork products in the U.S. in violation of the Sherman Act. 
• In re Automatic Card Shufflers Litigation - Represents a class of casino operators that purchased automated deck shufflers at an artificially high price because of defendants' monopolization of the market. Plaintiffs allege defendants monopolized the market for automated card shufflers through abuse of the patent system and judicial process to exclude and drive out competitors. 
• In re Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation - Represents a class of app developers that sold apps or in-app products via the Google Play store. The developers allege that Google has abused its market power to exclude competing app stores from Android phones, stifling innovation and consumer choice, and resulting in a supracompetitive default 30% transaction fee. 
• In re California Gasoline Market Antitrust Litigation - Represents a proposed class of California gasoline purchasers alleging manipulation of a pricing benchmark by SK Energy and Vitol, two dominant trading firms. 
• In Re Google Display Advertising Antitrust Litigation - Represents the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as special outside counsel alongside other state attorneys general alleging that Google eliminated competition through anticompetitive acquisitions and manipulated online advertising auctions it administers through its suite of online advertising tools. 
• In re Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation – Represents a certified class of broiler chicken farmers (referred to as “Growers”) claim that over twenty of the country’s largest poultry producers, including Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Perdue, Koch Foods, and Sanderson Farms colluded to suppress Grower pay through agreements not to recruit, solicit, or “poach” one another’s Growers and through comprehensive and systematic exchanges of Grower compensation information. Settlements have been reached with Tyson ($21 million), Perdue ($14.75 million), Koch Foods ($15.5 million), Sanderson Farms ($17.75 million), and Pilgrim's Pride ($100 million) totaling $169 million.
• Keystone Concrete Block & Supply Co. Inc v. Sika AG et al. and M&D Peterson, LLC v. et al. v. Sika AG et al. – two price fixing conspiracy cases between the world’s largest manufacturers of concrete, cement, and mortar admixtures.
• In re Manufactured Home Lot Rents Antitrust Litigation – Hausfeld is co-lead counsel in an antitrust case filed on behalf of a putative nationwide class of manufactured home residents against nine community management companies and a market data provider, Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc. The Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants conspired to exchange competitively sensitive information and fixed the price of rents at manufactured home lots across the country from at least 2019 through the present.  

Commercial & Financial Disputes

• Kabakoff et al. v. Zeneca, Inc.—Kyle represented the current and former equityholders of Amplimmune, a pharmaceutical development firm, in a challenge to AstraZeneca’s alleged failure to make milestone payments due under a merger agreement between the two companies.  Kyle was one of the attorneys who presented the case for trial in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, and the case remains ongoing.