A consultant for independent convenience store and gas station owners is allowed to add allegations to existing price discrimination claims against Juul Labs and a competitor, but the plaintiff cannot bring entirely new antitrust claims against the defendants in a case that has been pending for nearly four years, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Monday.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois split in granting a request made by the plaintiff, Power Buying Dealers USA, for leave to file a third amended complaint against the e-cigarette manufacturer and HS Wholesale to add details to an existing price discrimination claim under the Robinson-Patman Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 13(a). However, Coleman took a different stance on the plaintiff’s request to add a claim that accused the defendants of engaging in a price-fixing conspiracy under Section I of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.