Ethan J. Barlieb

Current Cases

• Amarin Pharma, Inc.

  CASE CAPTION	In re: Vascepa Antitrust Litigation Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs
  COURT	United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
  CASE NUMBER	21-cv-12061-ZNQ
  JUDGE	Zahid Quraishi
  PLAINTIFFS	Welfare Plan of The International Union of Operating Engineers Locals 137, 137A, 137B, 137C, 137R; Local 464A United Food and Commercial Workers Union Welfare Service Benefit Fund; Uniformed Fire Officers Association Family Protection Plan Local 854; Uniformed Fire Officers Association for Retired Fire Officers Family Protection Plan; Teamsters Health & Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity; and Board of Trustees of the Heavy and General Laborers’ Local Unions 472 and 172 of NJ Welfare Fund
  DEFENDANTS	Amarin Pharma, Inc., Amarin Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited, and Amarin Corporation PLC

  Plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint alleging that, having pursued and lost patent infringement litigation against would-be generic competitors as well as exhausting every regulatory means to prevent and delay the launch of generic competitors, Amarin adopted an unlawful strategy to artificially extend its monopoly for it sole product Vascepa. By locking up every viable supplier of the key ingredient needed to manufacture generic Vascepa, Amarin boxed generic manufacturers out of the market. This scheme left Amarin free to continue charging supracompetitive prices and obtain the most profit it could out of Vascepa, at the expense of the Plaintiffs and other purchasers of the drug.

• Netflix, Inc. & Hulu, LLC

  CASE CAPTION	Borough of Longport and Township of Irvington v. Netflix, Inc. and Hulu, LLC
  COURT	United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
  CASE NUMBER	21-cv-15303-SRC
  JUDGE	Honorable Stanley R. Chesler
  PLAINTIFF	Borough of Longport and Township of Irvington
  DEFENDANTS	Netflix, Inc. and Hulu, LLC

  Kessler Topaz represents two New Jersey municipalities, the Borough of Longport and the Township of New Jersey, in a putative class action against Netflix and Hulu seeking to recover unpaid franchise fees under the Cable Television Act. Under that Act, cable television companies are required to pay New Jersey municipalities a mandatory franchise fee equal to 2% of their subscriptions in the municipality’s jurisdiction. As more and more people “cut the cord” and move from traditional cable television subscriptions to streaming services offered by companies like Netflix and Hulu, New Jersey municipalities have been deprived of the franchise fees that they have collected from traditional cable television companies and relied upon for decades.

  Plaintiffs filed their Class Action Complaint on August 13, 2021, asking the Court to order that Netflix and Hulu abide by the Cable Television Act and pay what they owe to New Jersey municipalities. On May 20, 2022, after briefing on defendants’ motions to dismiss, the District Court held that the Cable Television Act did not confer a private right of action and that only the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (the “BPU”) had the right to assert such claims.  Plaintiffs have appealed the District Court’s decision to the Third Circuit. The appeal is fully briefed and awaiting a decision.
   

• Michigan Federal Court Approves Settlement for Vehicle Owners in Ford Motor Co. Exhaust Fumes Consumer Litigation

  January 10, 2022