Laurie’s practice focuses on antitrust and competition, class actions, multidistrict litigation, and complex commercial litigation. She has extensive experience in class action and opt-out restraint of trade cases raising price-fixing, supply reduction, market allocation, and information sharing conspiracies. As a compliment to her litigation practice, Laurie advises clients on a wide variety of antitrust, pricing and distribution issues, including resale price maintenance (“RPM”) and minimum advertised price (“MAP”) policies, price discrimination and Robinson-Patman Act compliance, information sharing and benchmarking, exclusivity and requirements contracts, other vertical distribution restrictions, product tying and package offerings, joint ventures and other competitor collaborations, trade association participation, antitrust training, and subpoenas and civil investigative demands from governmental entities.

She has represented Fortune 500 and other prominent entities including pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers; retailers; auto manufacturers; transportation providers; and food, beverage and agribusiness companies. Laurie utilizes teamwork, creativity, efficiency, and prioritization to develop strategies that are aligned with her client’s goals and needs, striving to minimize legal risks while supporting client objectives and successfully, effectively and efficiently resolve litigation. She has successfully negotiated and implemented class action settlements in single case and coordinated proceedings. Laurie also has extensive experience with multidistrict litigation and managing parallel federal and state proceedings. In addition to antitrust class actions, she has defended clients in class actions raising consumer protection, consumer fraud, deceptive business practices, marketing practices, and various other claims. Besides class actions, Laure also handles high-stakes breach of contract, warranty, Lanham Act, unfair competition and other commercial disputes. 

Laurie has been significantly involved in the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation and recently served as co-chair of the Antitrust Litigation Committee. She is a Fellow of the ABA Bar Foundation. Over the years, Laurie has held a variety of Section of Litigation Committee leadership positions, and in 2012 was honored to receive an Outstanding Section of Litigation Subcommittee Chair Award by the American Bar Association.

Representative Matters

In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Ill.) (currently defending chicken producer in consolidated proceedings involving putative nationwide class actions on behalf of direct purchasers, commercial indirect purchasers, and end-user indirect purchasers, as well as over 85 direct action opt-out cases and parens patriae state attorney general actions, which allege that producers conspired to fix production levels and pricing in the broiler chicken industry).

Poultry Processing Wage Fixing Antitrust Litigation (D. Md.) (currently defending chicken producer in consolidated nationwide putative class actions that allege poultry producers conspired to fix and suppress the wages and benefits of production and maintenance employees at poultry processing plants and exchange compensation information).

United States et al. v. Google and State of Colorado et al. v. Google (D.D.C) (recently represented two clients  in connection with third-party document subpoenas served by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), State Attorneys General, and defendant Google in the consolidated antitrust monopolization cases that were filed by the DOJ and a large number of States, negotiating narrow collection/production agreements and avoiding depositions).

No Spill v. Scepter Manufacturing (D. Kan.) (represented manufacturer of portable fuel containers in patent infringement litigation brought by a competitor over flame mitigation device technology in connection with antitrust counterclaims for a conspiracy in restraint of trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act; monopolization, attempted monopolization and conspiracy to monopolize under Section 2 of the Sherman Act; and violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act).

Belcher Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. Hospira, Inc. (M.D. Fla.) (successfully defended pharmaceutical manufacturer in a Lanham Act false advertising and unfair competition case brought by a competitor, which alleged defendant misled purchasers in connection with the marketing and sale of its grandfathered epinephrine products, medically necessary drugs that had been in shortage for years, and that but for the challenged conduct, plaintiff would have enjoyed increased sales and profits; the court granted summary judgment to defendant on all claims in January 2020).

MDL 2196 - In re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Ohio) (represented a polyurethane foam manufacturer in approximately 40 direct purchaser class actions, indirect purchaser class actions, and opt-out individual actions pending in federal MDL proceedings and state court involving claims of alleged price fixing of polyurethane foam products; negotiated favorable class and direct action settlements and successfully briefed and argued opposition to class certification in a related Missouri Merchandising Practices Act class action, leading to dismissal of action).

Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation (jointly represented Capper-Volstead cooperatives and group of egg producer defendants as Kansas counsel in an opt-out Kansas state court action alleging an industry-wide antitrust conspiracy to reduce the supply and fix prices of eggs and egg products and presented oral argument on defendants’ summary judgment motion).

Honey labeling class actions (represented large grocery retailers and honey processor in consumer class actions in Florida federal and state courts where plaintiffs alleged defendants violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by failing to disclose whether any pollen was removed from honey products during standard processing; successfully resolved these matters, negotiating very favorable individual and class settlements).

Frobos v. Pilot Travel Centers, LLC, No. 2:10-cv-01097-NKL, slip op. (W.D. Mo. October 20, 2011) (represented major national fuel retailer in a putative nationwide FACTA class action; successfully presented oral argument at class certification hearing, resulting in court’s denial of plaintiff’s class certification motion).

Kremers v. Coca-Cola Company, 712 F. Supp. 2d 759 (S.D. Ill. 2010); 2009 WL 6499418 (S.D. Ill. Sept. 2, 2009) (represented Coca-Cola in a putative consumer fraud action in which plaintiffs alleged that the marketing of Coca-Cola was deceptive under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act; successfully opposed class certification and sought summary judgment, where court granted Coca-Cola summary judgment on the proposed class representatives’ claims and denied class certification motion as moot).

MDL 1684 - In re Plastics Additives Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.) (defended Akzo Nobel in approximately 15 direct and indirect purchaser antitrust class actions pending in federal MDL proceedings and state courts involving claims of alleged price fixing of plastics additives products).

MDL 1278 – In re Cardizem CD Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Mich.) (represented major pharmaceutical company accused of a market allocation agreement in connection with the settlement of certain patent litigation involving a generic company, defending 23 class actions involving both direct and indirect claims, individual opt-out actions, and actions by state attorneys general).

Wagner v. Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc., No. 02-L-690 (Cir. Ct. of St. Clair Cnty, Ill. 2008) (represented Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc. in a putative class action alleging the retailer violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act by failing to provide a consumer rights brochure in connection with its installed sales contracts; negotiated a favorable class settlement).

Fiber Optic Railroad Right-of-Way Litigation, including Nicodemus v. Union Pacific Corp., 204 F.R.D. 479 (D. Wyo. 2001), reversed in part, 440 F.3d 1227 (10th Cir. 2006) (represented Union Pacific and successfully opposed class certification in 23 putative class actions alleging wrongful conduct in connection with the laying of fiber optic cable on the railroad’s right of way).

Publications

Laurie Novion and Ina D. Chang, The Evolving Burden for Removal under CAFA, ABA Mass Torts Litigation Newsletter (Spring 2012).

Laurie A. Novion and Zach Chaffee-McClure, The Devil Is in the Details: Issues Often Overlooked When Crafting Class Settlement Agreements, ABA Mass Torts Newsletter (Fall 2010).

Tristan L. Duncan and Laurie A. Novion, How Even the Faint of Heart Can Survive MDL: An Overview of Multidistrict Litigation and Advice on how to Make the Best of Unfamiliar Procedures in Unfamiliar Courts, published in written materials for Kansas Bar Association’s The Medium Is the Mess: iPractice in the e-Age, Apr. 23, 2010.

Editor in Chief, Class Actions Today (ABA Section of Litigation Magazine), 2008.

Joseph M. Rebein and Laurie A. Novion, Effective Use of Experts: From Class Issues to Damages, DRI, June 2003. View

Presentations

Moderator, The Proliferation of Class Action Opt-Out Litigation: Prosecuting, Defending and Settling Direct Actions, ABA Section of Litigation’s Western Regional CLE Conference on Class Actions and Mass Tort Litigation, San Francisco, California (June 22, 2018).

Speaker, ABA Consumer Protection Update Webinar, ABA Section of Antitrust Law, Consumer Protection and Advertising Disputes Litigation Committees (June 14, 2016).

Speaker, Parallel State and Federal Court Class Actions: Navigating Procedural and Substantive Challenges, Strafford Publications Webinar (May 5, 2016). 

Moderator, ‘All Natural,’ Ingredient Labeling, and Health Claims, Oh My: Recent Developments in the Smorgasbord of Food Labeling Class Actions, 2015 ABA Section of Litigation’s Environmental, Mass Torts and Products Liability Litigation Committees’ Joint CLE Seminar in Snowmass Village, Colo. (January 30, 2015).

Antitrust Regulations, Nine in Ninety: The Top Legal Issues in 2014, LexisNexis Webinar, September 9, 2014.

Moderator, Mass Disaster - Litigating the Mass Torts Disaster Case: Practical Considerations for Plaintiffs and Defendants, ABA Section of Litigation’s Section Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 2013.

Preparing Early and Often: State-of-the-Art Strategies for Managing Class Action Experts, American Bar Association's 16th Annual National Institute on Class Actions, Chicago, Illinois, October 25, 2012.

Keeping the Cat in the Bag: Protecting Trade Secrets During Litigation, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.'s Seventh Annual Update of the Law, Kansas City, Missouri, June 17, 2010.

Antitrust Law: New Pricing Rules for Manufacturers and Sellers, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.'s Fifth Annual Corporate Counsel Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Jan. 24, 2008.

Developments in Employment Related Matters: Class Actions in the Context of Employment Law, Kansas Women's Attorney Association Ad Astra Per Aspera Conference, Lindsborg, Kansas, July 18, 2002.