Keurig Green Mountain Wins Appeal in Multidistrict Antitrust Litigation

On October 26, 2015, a Second Circuit panel ruled in favor of Cleary Gottlieb’s client Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., affirming a Southern District of New York decision denying competitor plaintiff JBR, Inc.’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the sale of Keurig’s new coffee brewer, the Keurig 2.0.

Cleary Gottlieb represents Keurig in connection with antitrust lawsuits brought by two competing manufacturers of single-serve portion packs and by purported classes of direct and indirect purchasers of Keurig’s K-Cup portion packs. In June 2014, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the suits in the Southern District of New York before Judge Vernon S. Broderick.

In August 2014, one of the competitor plaintiffs, JBR, sought a preliminary injunction to block the sale of the Keurig 2.0 and to prevent Keurig from making allegedly false or misleading statements about JBR’s products. Judge Broderick denied the motion, and JBR appealed. The Second Circuit affirmed the denial, ruling that the District Court had not abused its discretion when it found that JBR did not establish it was likely to suffer irreparable injury.