Henry, et al. v. Brown University, et al. – 568 Cartel Antitrust Litigation

Berger Montague serves as co-lead counsel in this antitrust class action lawsuit filed on January 9, 2022 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, against Brown University, California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University.

On August 15, 2022, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly rejected motions by the defendant universities to dismiss the case. Discovery in the litigation is now going forward.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendant schools purported to collude on financial aid awards under the auspices of an antitrust exemption that permits schools that are need-blind—and only such schools—to collude on a formula for financial aid with other need-blind schools. The plaintiffs further allege that the schools systematically violated the terms of that antitrust exemption by failing to admit students on a fully need-blind basis or by colluding with institutions who failed in that way.

As alleged, these schools have thus taken advantage of an antitrust exemption to which they were not entitled, in violation of the antitrust laws of the United States, and as a result of this antitrust conspiracy, these schools have artificially reduced financial aid, and systematically increased the net tuition prices paid by thousands of students and their families. These students and their parents are members of the proposed class in this antitrust action that seeks to hold these elite institutions accountable for their misconduct, put a halt to these activities, and obtain damages to make the class members whole.

A copy of the Class Action Complaint is available. A separate website with additional information has been set up for this case at www.568cartel.com. We encourage you to visit that website.

If you or your company has been harmed by anticompetitive conduct or any conduct that you believe violates the antitrust laws, please contact Berger Montague.

About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is a national law firm focusing on complex civil litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. For over half a century, Berger Montague has played lead roles in consequential, precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.