Michael J. Kane

Biography

Michael J. Kane, a Shareholder of the Firm, has over 30 years of experience in antitrust and complex commercial litigation with a focus on class actions. He has served in leadership and prominent roles in courts around the country.

Mr. Kane was one the of the lead attorneys in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1720 (E.D.N.Y.) alleging, inter alia, that certain of Visa and MasterCard rules, including anti-steering restraints and default interchange fees, working in tandem caused artificially inflated interchange fees paid by merchants on credit and debit card transactions. After over a decade of litigation, the case settled for $5.6 billion settlement was granted final approval. Mr. Kane was also one of the lead lawyers in Castro v. Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., No. 2:11-cv-07178-JMV-MAH (D.N.J.), a certified class action of over 26,000 physician practices, other healthcare providers, and vaccine distributors direct purchasers, alleging that defendant Sanofi engaged in anticompetitive conduct to maintain its monopoly in the market for MCV4 vaccines resulting in artificially inflated prices for Sanofi’s MCV4 vaccine Menactra and the MCV4 vaccine Menveo, which settled for $61.5 million. Mr. Kane also served in a leadership role in Fusion Elite All Stars v. Varsity Brands, LLC, Case No. 2:20-cv-02600-SHL (W.D. Tenn.) alleging Varsity has, in combination with the USASF, acquired, enhanced, and maintained monopoly power in the All Star Competition Market resulting in direct purchasers paying artificially inflated prices, which settled for $43.5 million plus significant changes to Defendants’ business practices. Mr. Kane was also one of the lead counsel in Contant, et al. v. Bank of America Corp., et al., 1:17-cv-03139-LGS (S.D.N.Y.) alleging a conspiracy among horizontal competitors to fix the prices of foreign currencies and certain foreign currency instruments to recover damages caused by defendants on behalf of plaintiffs and members of a proposed class of indirect purchasers of FX instruments from defendants. The case resulted in a $23.6 million settlement.

Other cases in which he had a leading role include: Ross v. American Express Company (S.D.N.Y.) ($49.5 million settlement achieved after more than 7 years of litigation and after summary judgment was denied); Ross v. Bank of America (S.D.N.Y.) (involving claims that the defendant banks and American Express unlawfully acted in concert to require cardholders to arbitrate disputes, including debt collections, and to preclude cardholders from participating in any class actions, Mr. Kane was one of the primary trial counsel in the five-week bench trial); In re Microsoft Corporation Massachusetts Consumer Protection Litigation (Mass. Super. Ct., Middlesex Cty.)(plaintiffs alleged that as a result of Microsoft Corporation’s anticompetitive practices, Massachusetts consumers paid more than they should have for Microsoft’s operating systems and software. The case was settled for $34 million); In re Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litig. (S.D.N.Y.) (settlement for $336 million and injunctive relief).

Mr. Kane was given the Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice by the American Antitrust Institute in 2023 and 2024 and named a Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer (2019 – 2020).