DOJ Investigates Alleged UPS-FedEx Boycott
The AP Reports:
The Justice Department is investigating claims of anticompetitive behavior by shipping companies FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc.
Los Angeles antitrust attorney Maxwell Blecher said in a sworn court document filed last month that on Nov. 22 a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s antitrust division called him and said they had begun a formal investigation of UPS and FedEx.
The Justice Department declined to confirm the investigation on Friday. FedEx and UPS say they are aware of the investigation.
Blecher represents a firm called AFMS Logistics Management Group that helps companies negotiate lower rates from UPS and FedEx. The company’s federal lawsuit accuses UPS and FedEx of announcing on the same day that they would no longer deal with such consultants. Blecher said on Friday that the moves were “devastating” for AFMS’s business.
The underlying private civil case is AFMS LLC v. United Parcel Service Co., (10-cv-5830, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles)). I do not have a copy of the complaint in that case which references the DOJ investigation, but will post if I do.
UPDATE: Here is a copy of the complaint (HT: Dale Collins). Briefs are also available here.