Enforcers, private suits, or both
Government enforcers, including the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and state attorneys general such as New York's, can investigate conduct that a private party reports. A complaint to them costs relatively little, but the agency decides whether and how to act, and any case it brings is its own. A private antitrust action keeps control with you and can seek damages, though it is usually expensive and slow. The two routes are not mutually exclusive: private plaintiffs sometimes follow a government case, and a government action can produce findings or settlements that private parties build on later. Federal law and New York's Donnelly Act both give private parties a right to sue.
The harm has to be the right kind
Being hurt by a competitor's success is not enough. Antitrust law protects competition, so a private plaintiff generally has to show an injury that flows from reduced competition, such as paying inflated prices or being shut out of a market by unlawful conduct, rather than from tougher rivalry. Your place in the distribution chain matters too, because federal law limits damages claims by indirect buyers, while many states, New York among them, allow such claims. Gather records of your purchases and prices over time, lost bids or accounts, and any communications in which the other side explained or threatened its conduct. Information about how the market works, such as who the competitors are and how customers choose among them, becomes important early.
Deciding how to proceed
In a first meeting, we listen to the facts, ask what market is affected, and consider whether the conduct looks like an agreement among competitors or a single firm's exclusionary practice, since the two are analyzed differently. We also ask whether you still depend on the company you would be accusing, because a lawsuit can change that relationship overnight. Antitrust damages claims are subject to time limits, and ongoing conduct can affect how those limits apply, so timing deserves attention from the start. If the better path is a complaint to enforcers, we can help prepare a clear submission; if it is litigation, we discuss cost, economic analysis, and what the early stages would look like.
