Ian Simmons

Partner

Ian Simmons is a partner in O’Melveny's Washington, DC office and a member of the Antitrust and Competition Practice. An alumnus of the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, Ian’s focus is antitrust litigation, with a particular emphasis on cartel class actions and matters involving intellectual property. He has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third, Fourth and Seventh Circuits and the highest courts in New York and South Dakota and has tried seven cases to verdict. He has been lead counsel in over twelve consolidated MDL antitrust proceedings. When Ian achieved ranking in the 2008 LEGAL 500 US category of Antitrust Litigation, his clients characterized him as “smart and tenacious.”

Ian is currently lead counsel for Asiana Airlines, Inc. in two MDL actions involving direct and indirect purchaser classes of air passengers and air cargo services. In July 2008, the passenger Court dismissed with prejudice all indirect purchaser claims on the grounds that the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 preempts state claims. See In re Korean Airlines Co., Ltd., Antitrust Litigation, 567 F. Supp. 2d 1213, C.D. Cal. 2008).  The decision is notable in that it holds the ADA applies to foreign air carriers. He also represents Asiana in the grand jury antitrust investigation. In addition, he represents Apollo Global Management LLC in Dahl v. Apollo, an action alleging collusion in the private equity industry which is pending in the District of Massachusetts.

Among his other representations are: Sony Corporation in cases alleging price-fixing; Hynix Semiconductor Inc. in antitrust class actions and opt-out matters for alleged price-fixing violations; Honeywell International Inc. in monopolization cases involving thermostats in five courts in which to date summary judgment was granted with respect to the case pending in Maine, in 2008, a Massachusetts and a Vermont court denied class certification in widely publicized opinions; and another Honeywell entity in a monopolization case (Eastern District of Texas) involving laboratory air flow systems.

Ian was lead counsel for Chemtura Corporation (formerly Crompton Corporation) in over 70 federal and state actions alleging price-fixing and in federal multi-district litigation (“MDL”) actions alleging conspiracies involving five different products and five separate time periods. 

Ian is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America as one of the leading US antitrust lawyers.

Illustrative Professional Experience

• In 2007, Ian prevailed in New York’s Highest Court, in what Global Competition Review termed “a landmark ruling,” holding that treble damages class actions are not cognizable under New York’s antitrust statute, the Donnelly Act. See Sperry v. Crompton Corp., 863 N.E. 2d 1012, 8 N.Y. 3d 204 (2007).
• The District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction foreign claims that did not satisfy the FTAIA’s “domestic injury” exception. See In re Rubber Chemicals Antitrust Litigation, 504 F. Supp. 2d 777 (N.D. Cal. 2007).
• Frankenfeld v. Crompton, 697 N.W. 2d 378 (S.D. 2005) (South Dakota Supreme Court reversing denial of motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and rejecting argument that the mere allegation of a nationwide price-fixing conspiracy was sufficient to constitute a cognizable “plus” factor under the Asahi test and holding that “minimum contacts” of alleged conspirators cannot be imputed to one another).
• In 1998, Ian defended NPI in a six-week criminal price-fixing jury trial. This case was first time that a federal grand jury indicted a company for its alleged involvement in a wholly foreign conspiracy. After the jury deadlocked, in a landmark ruling, the district court granted NPI’s motion for judgment of acquittal. See United States v. Nippon Paper Indus, Co., Ltd., 62 F. Supp. 2d 173 (D. Mass. 1999).
• In 2006, Ian secured a reversal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in an antitrust/arbitration case. See In re NBR Antitrust Litigation, 2006 WL 3147328 (3d Cir. 2006).
• In re Dynamic Random Access Memory Litigation, 546 F.3d 98 (9th Cir. 2008) (FTAIA bars foreign claims).
• Ian defended Verizon in an antitrust challenge to its Yellow Page pricing structure. See Yellow Page Solutions, Inc. et al. v. Bell Atlantic Yellow Pages, Inc., et al. __ F. Supp. 2d ___, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18831 (S.D.N.Y. 2001) (granting motion to dismiss).
• In 1998-99, Ian worked on a major RICO action in federal court on behalf of CIGNA in which class certification was denied. See Gibbs Properties, et al. v. CIGNA Corp., et al., 196 F.R.D. 430 (M.D. Fla. 1999).

Before returning to the Firm in 1998, Ian was counsel to Senator Susan Collins and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Professional Activities

Law Clerk, Honorable Gustave Diamond, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
Admitted to Practice, Court of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits
Author, "Rigorous Analysis in Antitrust Class Certification Rulings: Recent Advances on the Front Line" (co-author Alexander P. Okuliar), Antitrust 1 (Fall 2008); "Private Enforcement of the U.S. Antitrust Laws Through Class Actions" (co-author Alexander P.Okuliar), The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Competition Litigation 2009; "Without Presumptions: Rigorous Analysis in Class Certification Proceedings," (co-authors Alexander P. Okuliar and Nilam A. Sanghvi), 21 Antitrust 3 (Summer 2007); "Muddy Waters? Navigating the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act," (co-authors Frank Goldman and Scott M. Hammack), Antitrust Report, Issue 2 (2006); "The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and State Law Antitrust Actions," (co-author Charles E. Borden), 20 Antitrust 1 (Fall 2005); "The New Meets the Old: The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and State Law Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Actions," (co-author Charles E. Borden); The Antitrust Practitioner, Vol. 2 (May 2005) ; "Safer than a Known Way? A Critique of the FTC's Report on Competition and Patent Law and Policy," (co-authors Professor Janusz A. Ordover and David A. Applebaum), 18 Antitrust 39 (Spring 2004); "I Know It When I See It: Defining and Demonstrating Blocking Patents," (co-authors Patrick Lynch and Theodore H. Frank), 16 Antitrust 48 (Summer 2002); "A Dialogue Between The Antitrust Division and Defense Counsel: The Nippon Paper Trial — Judicial Rejection of Foreign Price Fixing: What Does it Mean for the Future?," Antitrust Law Criminal Practice and Procedure Committee, No. 30 (February 2001); "The Advent of Per Se 'Plus': United States v. Nippon Paper and the Limitations of Sherman Act Criminal Enforcement Against Foreign Conspiracies," 14 Antitrust 26 (Fall 1999)
Speaker and Moderator, “EU Antitrust Litigation and Class Actions: Where is Europe Going and What Can We Learn From The US Experience?” London Stock Exchange, London, UK, (April 14, 2008)
Speaker, Panelist, "U.S. Antitrust Law and Global Claims: Navigating The Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act", American Bar Association Antitrust Spring Meeting, 2009; Faculty Member, "The Antitrust Litigation Course," American Bar Association, The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia, PA, (October 4-5, 2007); Panelist, "Class Certification: Is There A Trend Towards More Rigorous Analysis, " ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting, 2007"; "Class Action Fairness Act: One Year Later Emerging Issues and Strategies," The Yale Club, New York, NY, June 27, 2006; "Alternative Dispute Resolution and Competition: The Interface Between ADR and Competition Law," IBC UK Conferences, London, UK, March 2005; Various legal profession seminars, including the ABA Antitrust Section, Insurance Industry Committee's "Recent Developments in Insurance Antitrust" (May 2000), the Economist's Advocate Antitrust Roundtable (October 1999), and the ABA Litigation Section's "Maximizing Proprietary Assets/Leaping Antitrust Hurdles" Roundtable (May 1999)
Member, Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association; Curriculum Committee, Georgetown Day School