Eric Grannon
Partner, White & Case LLP
[email protected]
Eric Grannon, who began at the firm as a summer associate in 1997 and has been a partner since 2007, is based in the Washington, DC, office of White & Case LLP, where he helps clients with antitrust matters, including civil and criminal defence, as well as counselling for mergers and acquisitions, settlements of pharmaceutical patent litigation and strategic planning. He returned to White & Case after serving as counsel to the assistant attorney general in charge of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in 2003–2004, where he helped formulate US antitrust enforcement policy and manage the civil and criminal investigations and court cases brought by the Antitrust Division.
In private practice, Mr Grannon has argued in district courts across the country, including an antitrust jury trial, argued appeals in the Eleventh and DC Circuits, and worked on 12 matters before the US Supreme Court, 10 of which were antitrust cases.
Mr Grannon served as lead trial counsel defending two pharmaceutical companies in FTC v Actavis, as well as counsel of record for those companies before the US Supreme Court. In In re Bystolic Antitrust Litigation, he served as lead counsel, successfully arguing a motion to dismiss with prejudice the reverse payment, ‘pay-for-delay’ complaints by all plaintiffs (direct-purchaser, end-payer and opt-out) against all defendants (innovator and generic) concerning seven settlements of pharmaceutical patent litigation No. 20-5735, 2023 US Dist Lexis 52269, __ F Supp 3d __ (SDNY 21 February 2023), appeal filed 20 March 2023.
He has counselled more than 40 pharmaceutical patent settlements that have avoided challenge by the Federal Trade Commission and private plaintiffs. His other recent successes on behalf of clients include defeating class certification for direct purchasers, obtaining the dismissal of indirect-purchaser actions, winning summary judgment and successfully moving to bifurcate a trial into two phases, all in different pharmaceutical antitrust cases. He has also helped pharmaceutical clients obtain merger clearance in the United States.
In 2023, Chambers USA said: ‘Eric Grannon is noted for his trial skills, representing pharmaceutical sector clients in complex antitrust litigation. He has particular experience defending pay-for-delay allegations.’ In September 2022, Law360 selected Eric as a class action ‘MVP’, one of only two defence counsel in the United States to receive that award.