Antitrust Partner Claudia Higgins Discusses Criticism of Behavioral Remedies in Mergers in The Deal

The Deal reports that consent decrees containing behavioral remedies designed to mitigate antitrust concerns are becoming more and more commonly issued by regulators when approving mergers. Critics argue that many of the remedies included in such merger settlements, such as nondivestiture obligations, allow government officials to overextend their authority in imposing regulatory conditions.

According to Kaye Scholer Antitrust Partner and former FTC official Claudia Higgins, "The critics' concern is that the settlement is not related to the issue raised by the merger and that the regulators are really going after something else.”