LCMC Health has secured an early win in its legal battle against the Federal Trade Commission after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that the case should be heard in a federal court in Louisiana, per Becker’s.
LCMC and the FTC filed lawsuits in April in federal courts in Louisiana and the District of Columbia, respectively. Each side fought for the case to be heard in its own jurisdiction, with LCMC coming out on top.
“There is a significant local interest in the state hospital merger approval process in Louisiana and how it bears on the enforcement of the antitrust laws with respect to hospital in the state,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a May 23 ruling.
The antitrust case centers around whether LCMC should have sought federal approval for its $150 million acquisition of three Louisiana hospitals from Nashville, Tenn.based HCA Healthcare in January.
The FTC had ordered LCMC to halt the acquisition while it conducted a review, but the Louisiana legislature and state attorney general had “expressly and unequivocally authorized” the deal to go through.
