Qualcomm Wins Vacatur of Class Certification Order on Appeal
October 01, 2021
On September 29, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Cravath client Qualcomm Incorporated (“Qualcomm”), vacating a class certification order in Stromberg v. Qualcomm, a class action suit that is related to a prior antitrust suit brought against Qualcomm by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), FTC v. Qualcomm. The Stromberg plaintiffs brought antitrust claims against Qualcomm, and the formerly certified class included an estimated 250 million members in the U.S.
On appeal from the class certification order, Qualcomm argued, among other things, that it was error to apply California’s Illinois Brick repealer law to class members who reside in states that do not recognize indirect purchaser standing in antitrust cases. The Ninth Circuit agreed and vacated the certification of the class. The Ninth Circuit further determined that Qualcomm’s August 2020 victory in “FTC v. Qualcomm may well warrant dismissal of Plaintiffs’ claims” against Qualcomm and remanded to the district court with instructions that “there would have to be some extraordinary difference” with the FTC case “for Plaintiffs’ claims here to not fail as a matter of law”.
Qualcomm’s appeal began with a successful petition for interlocutory review of the district court’s certification order. While the class certification order was on appeal in the Ninth Circuit, in August 2020 a separate panel of the Court of Appeals decided FTC v. Qualcomm, a related case brought by the FTC in which Cravath also represented Qualcomm. In that decision, the Ninth Circuit determined that Qualcomm’s challenged business practices were “lawful and not anticompetitive”, and the Court later declined to grant en banc review requested by the FTC.
The Cravath team was led by partners Gary A. Bornstein and Yonatan Even and included senior attorney Brent Byars. Many other partners, associates and discovery attorneys were also deeply involved in related cases and investigations over the years.
The case is Stromberg v. Qualcomm, No. 17‑md‑02773 (N.D. Cal.), No. 19‑15159 (9th Cir.).
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