Antitrust Statement
It is the clear intent of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (hereinafter CLM), its Members and Fellows to be in complete compliance with all federal and state antitrust rules, regulations and amendments thereof and to uphold the highest standards of ethical and legal behavior as professionals involved in litigation or the management of litigation thereof.
Numerous state and federal laws absolutely prohibit the exchange of information among competitors regarding price, refusals to deal, or agreements to proceed in certain anti-competitive respects, and that no such exchange of this information is either sanctioned by CLM or will be permitted during meetings, conferences, educational seminars or any other professional or social gatherings. This is a very serious matter and your cooperation and adherence to these standards is expected.
The CLM shall not, nor shall any of its Members or Fellows, in any fashion whatsoever attempt to lessen competition or fix prices arbitrarily or to create a combination or pool in violation of the laws of any state. The agreements created by CLM are those of a voluntary cooperation effort between the members themselves and shall not be contrary to any statute, ordinance, law, rule, regulation or any administrative acts enacted which prohibit such activity.
These policies and procedures apply to all officers, boards, Members, Fellows, committees and meetings sponsored by or in which CLM participates and all activities by the membership within their scope as members of CLM. All meetings of CLM, regardless of the subject matter or the level of participation of the membership of CLM shall be conducted as though they were open to the public.
Discussions of price fixing and/or price levels are strictly prohibited. In addition, no discussion is permitted of any elements of a company’s operations which might influence prices, pricing and/or price levels of that company’s cost of operations, supplies, labor and/or services. There shall be no discussion as to the allowances for discounts, terms of sale, profit percentages and/or mark ups.
Discussions of a division, separation and/or limitation of territories, customers, and/or service providers and/or limitation of the nature of business carried on or products sold and/or services delivered are not permitted.
Boycotts in any form or nature are strictly prohibited. Discussion or engagement relating to boycotts, blacklisting, unfavorable reports about a particular individual, company or organization, including their financial situation is strictly prohibited.
Violation of the antitrust laws may result in mandatory jail sentences, fines or both, even for first time offenders who are otherwise leaders in their communities.
If any discussion or action in violation of antitrust statutes occurs, you should object, have your objection noted in the minutes of any meeting and, if the discussion or practice continues, leave the room. Further, the prohibitions apply to discussions in an informal or social setting, not just regularly scheduled meetings. If you see any prohibited practices creeping into any CLM meeting or social event, it is your duty to raise your concerns to a leader of CLM.