Overview
BFKN's Litigation Group successfully defended Louis Vuitton and Loro Piana, securing a Second Circuit victory in a high-profile antitrust class action. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, alleged that several luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton and Loro Piana, conspired with Saks Fifth Avenue in "no-hire" agreements that purportedly suppressed the wages and job mobility of luxury retail employees.
In 2023, the district court dismissed the class action, emphasizing that the claims were barred by the four-year statute of limitations, that the plaintiffs had failed to allege a per se violation of the Sherman Act, and that under the rule of reason, the plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege any anticompetitive effect on the national market for luxury retail employees. The plaintiffs appealed this decision.
On appeal, the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal, ruling that the alleged no-hire agreements were not per se unlawful. The court noted that the restraints were part of vertical relationships between the non-Saks defendants and Saks, where the former sold products in Saks locations, and that per se treatment was inappropriate, as these agreements might promote competition in certain contexts. Applying the rule of reason standard, the appellate court agreed that the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim, reinforcing the original argument that there was no plausible allegation of anticompetitive effect on a national market.
BFKN's legal team was led by Owen H. Smith, Robert E. Shapiro, Maile Hitomi Solís, Connor T. Gants, Joshua W. Mahoney, and Nicholas W. Laird.
For more information on this case, please refer to BFKN's previous announcement:
