Marriott

O’Melveny secured a major victory for Marriott when Judge Jane Boyle of the Northern District of Texas dismissed antitrust and consumer protection claims against Marriott, other hotel defendants, and a group of online travel company websites, including Expedia and Travelocity. Plaintiffs, whose multiple complaints were transferred to Judge Boyle by the Judicial Panel of Multidistrict Litigation for consolidated pretrial proceedings, alleged that defendants entered into an industry-wide conspiracy to uniformly adopt resale price maintenance agreements containing most favored nations clauses in an effort to eliminate price competition among hotel room booking sites. Plaintiffs also claimed that defendants’ “Best Price Guarantees” were deceptive and in violation of state consumer protection laws. The court dismissed all four counts of the consolidated amended complaint and noted that it is “unclear whether Plaintiffs will be able to come forth with additional facts to overcome the pleading deficiencies.”  Plaintiffs have now filed a proposed amended complaint and are voluntarily dropping Marriott and the other hotel defendants from the suit.