Jeffery Cross

Jan 9, 2025 | todaysgeneralcounsel.com | Jeffery Cross

The recently blocked Kroger-Albertsons deal, a $24.6 billion merger that would have created a massive grocery store operator, provides valuable lessons about how to handle antitrust risks in M&A agreements. More specifically, it highlights the significance of “hell or high water” clauses that require the parties to take whatever steps are necessary to remove antitrust impediments, including divesting assets. Albertsons has claimed that Kroger violated these provisions of the deal.

Aug 22, 2024 | todaysgeneralcounsel.com | Jeffery Cross

Two federal district courts have reached opposing conclusions regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s rule banning employment noncompetes. We should brace for an uncertain future regarding the FTC noncompete ban, which would have sweeping implications for both employers and employees. In the meantime, let’s analyze each Court’s reasoning on the issue of whether the FTC had authority to issue substantive rules and see what led to this divide.

Jun 28, 2024 | todaysgeneralcounsel.com | Jeffery Cross

In April 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its ban on noncompetes, citing the anticompetitive effects of these agreements, which restrict an individual’s ability to seek and obtain future employment. The FTC’s conclusions, which cite the ban’s anticompetitive impacts on labor markets as well the markets for products and services, are not surprising. I explored this very topic in my past columns, which I will explain in more detail below.

May 1, 2024 | mondaq.com | Hunter Bedard |Amy Buice |Matthew Clarke |Jeffery Cross

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission, chaired by Lina Khan, passed a comprehensive ban on non-compete agreements. The FTC has determined that "non-competes are an unfair method of competition" and that a business conducts an unfair method of competition by entering into or enforcing non-competes with workers.

Apr 28, 2024 | todaysgeneralcounsel.com | Jeffery Cross

In October, I was part of a legal team that filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court supporting a petition for certiorari seeking to overturn baseball’s antitrust exemption. The case, in which a minor league team lost its affiliation with a major league team as the result of an alleged horizontal conspiracy among the 30 major league teams, appeared to be the best opportunity to overturn the exemption.