Geoffrey T. Holtz

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Geoff was a partner in the antitrust and trade regulation practice of another international law firm.

Antitrust

• Oliver v. Panasonic et al. — Represented SanDisk Corporation in putative antitrust class action asserting claims relating to licensing of flash memory technologies and products
• Federal Trade Commission v. Qualcomm Inc. — Representing Qualcomm in an antitrust lawsuit filed by the FTC related to its licensing and chip supply practices.
• In re: Qualcomm Patent Licensing Antitrust Litigation — Representing Qualcomm in an antitrust class action relating to the certification of a class estimated to cover 250 million cellphone buyers asserting claims of anti-competitive licensing practices.
• Technology Company — Represented a technology company in California state court against allegations of unfair competition and interference with contract arising out of a merger of two global ERP system providers.
• Semiconductor Company — Represented a semiconductor company in monopolization and attempted monopolization cases in state and federal court related to wireless technologies.
• Energy Company — Represented an energy company against allegations of a conspiracy to artificially inflate and fix prices for natural gas in wholesale gas markets. Geoff defended the client in a number of actions under state and federal antitrust laws across the nation.
• Energy Company — Represented an energy company and playing a leading role among defendants in these coordinated proceedings of several class actions alleging Sherman and Cartwright Act violations driving up the price of wholesale electricity. Many of these multibillion-dollar cases, including several resolved in federal court, were dismissed on filed rate and preemption grounds without discovery, and affirmed in landmark appellate decisions.
• Energy Company — Represented an energy company in a federal Clayton Act claim brought by the California attorney general seeking to force the client to divest itself of numerous wholesale power generation plants acquired as part of the California electricity deregulation process.

Intellectual Property

• Representing a major bank in ERP implementation dispute.
• International consulting firm — Represented an international consulting firm in action involving the implementation of an ERP computer system in a global wholesale manufacturer and wholesaler.
• International consulting firm — Represented a consulting firm in action involving the implementation of an ERP computer system in a county government.
• Outsourcing Solutions Provider — Represented an outsourcing solutions provider in Texas state court in a dispute with a competitor regarding the design and development of ERP systems for automobile dealerships.

Commercial Litigation

• Representing a municipal power agency in dispute relating to power plant energy and capacity invoicing and grid operations.
• Insurance Company — Represented runner-up bidder for the assets of insurance company in litigation against the winners, whose bid violated federal and state banking and insurance laws. Favorable result after trial and settlements of more than $150 million for clients.
• Reinsurance Broker — Represented a reinsurance broker in matter against an automobile insurer related to a complex finite risk reinsurance agreement. The trial resulted in a defense verdict.
• Hedge fund — Represented a hedge fund partner in a dispute over sale of the fund against allegations of fraud and breach of contract.
• Freelance writers — Represented a class of freelance writers in a federal Copyright Act claim brought against a defendant who sold articles by the class members without permission or
• payment of royalties.
• Pro Bono — Geoff has an active pro bono practice focusing on prisoners’ rights matters. Class actions he has litigated have resulted in sweeping injunctions to halt unconstitutional practices in which parolees were imprisoned without counsel or due process, and to halt unconstitutional 24-hour/day cell lockdowns based on the race of the inmates.