B.A. Tufts University, 1975 · Economics, summa cum laude J.D. Columbia University School of Law, 1978 · Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
Antitrust and Class Action Litigation
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Administrative Law |
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Antitrust Law And Policy |
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Fundamentals Of Health Law |
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Competition in Health Care |
Douglas Ross has taught at the 红桃视频 since 2010.
Professor Ross began his career with the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., before entering private practice in Seattle with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where he concentrated his practice in antitrust and health care and was chair of the litigation department. He retired from the firm in 2021.
He has served as an officer of the American Bar Association鈥檚 Section of Antitrust Law, chair of the Section鈥檚 Health Industry Committee, chair of the American Health Lawyer鈥檚 Antitrust Practice Group, and chair of the Washington State Bar Association鈥檚 Antitrust and Consumer Protection Section.
Best Lawyers named him as Seattle鈥檚 Lawyer of the Year in antitrust law, health care law, and health care litigation many times while he was in private practice.
Professor Ross speaks and writes frequently on antitrust and health care matters. Recent articles include,聽鈥,鈥 ProMarket (Chicago Booth School | Stigler Center (Sept. 5, 2024); 鈥?鈥澛CPI Antitrust Chronicle聽(May 2019) (co-authored);聽鈥溾, 28聽Research in Law and Economics聽123 (2018) (co-authored);聽, 91聽Wash. L. Rev.聽199 (2016) (co-authored).
In the academic year 2024鈥2025, Professor Ross teaches Antitrust Law & Policy (Autumn), Fundamentals of Health Law (Autumn), Administrative Law (Spring), and Competition in Health Law (Spring).
Professor Ross received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1978, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his B.A. from Tufts University in 1975, where he graduated summa cum laude in economics.
Google and the DOJ have returned to court to argue for what they believe the remedy should be for these monopolistic practices. Depending on what’s decided in a D.C. courthouse, there could be big changes in store for one of tech’s biggest juggernauts. Douglas Ross, professor from practice of law at the UW, is interviewed.
Removing two Democratic commissioners could trigger a cascade of problems for the longstanding agency, and even blow back on Republicans. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
President Donald Trump has an axe to grind with Seattle’s largest law firm. A Trump-issued executive order says Perkins Coie participates in “dishonest and dangerous activity” that has affected the country for “decades.” The order could have an impact on the firm’s ability to practice law in Seattle, and around the country. 红桃视频 Professor from Practice Doug Ross will tell us how.
“It may raise the price of insurance. This is a big cost. It has to absorb that somehow,” said Douglas Ross, a top health care antitrust expert and attorney who has followed the litigation while teaching at the 红桃视频. “On the other hand, this is $2.8 billion flowing to providers, and maybe they're going to use that to — and this is Pollyannish — lower prices, or perhaps more likely invest in things they need to invest in.”
“They both agree the market is supermarkets and not something far broader,” Ross said. “Both agree that there are many geographic markets where the merger will result in high concentration.”
Grocery workers in the Puget Sound region were relieved as a merger between Albertsons and Kroger broke down. The two grocery giants that had planned to merge are now at loggerheads. Albertsons announced it’s pulling out of the agreement with Kroger, and is suing the company for breach of contract. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
In a potentially fatal blow to the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons, a King County judge and, separately, a federal judge in Oregon ruled Tuesday that the $25 billion grocery tie-up should not be allowed to proceed. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
If Trump wins the presidency but Democrats retain control of the Senate on Tuesday, when 34 seats are up for election, they could slow-walk Trump's nominee to succeed Khan, Ross said. "The Senate needs to turn Republican, or she may be there for a long time," Ross said.
“There’s a good reason why history doesn’t supply lots of examples, and it goes beyond the DOJ and FTC didn’t care about labor markets,” Douglas Ross, an antitrust professor at the 红桃视频, said. “It’s because those cases are few and far between.”
“Kroger needs to run the table to close the deal: If they’re blocked anywhere it’s hard to see how the rest of the transaction can be completed,” Douglas Ross, an antitrust law professor at the University of Washington, said.
Debates about how big and powerful companies should be often don’t break along partisan lines. And actions taken by one administration can reverberate beyond the election cycle, even when political winds shift. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
If the Justice Department settles or wins this case, that could open the door to more competition in the debit card market and help ease prices, according to Douglas Ross, a professor at the 红桃视频. But the cost savings may be too small for consumers to take notice.
A federal court judge in Portland, Oregon heard opening arguments Monday in a case challenging the merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons. The hearing is critical, and could decide the merger’s direction. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
“They have to run the table – they have to win all three,” Douglas Ross, an antitrust law professor at the University of Washington, said.
Imagine a system that lets big landlords in your city work together to raise rents, using detailed, otherwise-private information about what their competitors are charging. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
If the court decides that the remedy is simply more divestitures in Washington, “that would be a win for Kroger and a loss, as far as I can tell, for the state, because the state doesn’t want the deal to go through, period,” said Doug Ross, an antitrust expert at the 红桃视频.
If the court decides that the remedy is simply more divestitures in Washington, “that would be a win for Kroger and a loss, as far as I can tell, for the state, because the state doesn’t want the deal to go through, period,” said Doug Ross, an antitrust expert at the 红桃视频.
The U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit against Apple opens new tab draws on the watershed 1998 case that broke Microsoft's stranglehold on desktop software, but that may prove to be an imperfect blueprint for addressing smartphone competition. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general for eight states and the District of Columbia are suing in an attempt to stop the merger of Kroger and Albertsons, the country's two largest grocery store companies. Federal and state officials argue the merger would "eliminate fierce competition" for both shoppers and workers, and lead to higher grocery prices. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
After months of speculation and delay, the Federal Trade Commission moved Monday to prevent the proposed $25 billion merger of Kroger and Albertsons, claiming that the largest grocery merger in U.S. history would raise prices and hurt workers. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit to prevent a proposed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons, two of the largest grocery chains in the country. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
The boom of health care mergers and acquisitions in Washington state has offered a way for many smaller, financially struggling hospitals and clinics to stay afloat, industry leaders say. But when those larger health systems start to make cuts they think are necessary, is patient access to care really being protected? Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
When Kroger and Albertsons promised to preserve competition under their proposed merger by selling 413 stores, including 104 in Washington, some wondered whether the buyer would be required to keep those stores open. Apparently, so did the buyer, C&S Wholesale Grocers. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
A lawsuit by Washington state to block a proposed $25 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons is getting some qualified kudos from legal experts and lots (and lots) of love from Washington grocery shoppers. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
“In any merger, companies typically are trying to achieve efficiencies, cost savings,” said Douglas Ross, an antitrust expert at the 红桃视频. “Typically, if you’ve got a merger between two companies in the same area, they are going to achieve some cost savings by reducing employment. And that is typical and ordinary. And although it might sound harsh, from an economic point of view it leads to progress, frankly. If we didn’t have more efficiencies, our economy wouldn’t grow and we wouldn’t have advances.”
Doug Ross, an antitrust expert with the 红桃视频, said the Federal Trade Commission will take a close look at the potential impacts of the divestiture in every region, including Alaska.
When two giant companies merge, federal antitrust laws could kick in, prompting the companies to sell off some stores in order to please the Federal Trade Commission. That's currently the plan for Kroger and Albertsons. On Friday, the two companies announced an agreement to sell 413 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, including 104 in Washington state. The companies added that no stores will close as a result of the merger. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is interviewed.
“I think chair Khan is ideologically motivated. She wants to change merger law in the U.S. fundamentally,” said Douglas Ross, a professor at the 红桃视频 and a former attorney in the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice.
There’s a “growing chorus” of states that want to adopt COPA regulation, said Douglas Ross, a professor at the 红桃视频.
Grocery workers have been speaking out against the proposed merger between grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger. Recently, unions representing workers launched a nationwide campaign to block the merger. For those who experienced previous buyouts, the announcement last fall reopened old wounds and raises new fears. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
Opposition to a proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons took a new turn last week after two dozen consumers, including a Kirkland man, filed the first formal challenge to the $25 billion deal. The lawsuit, filed Feb. 2 in a California federal court, also seeks to halt a controversial $4 billion dividend by Albertsons to shareholders in the run-up to the merger. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
“I don’t think there are lots of big health care mergers waiting to happen,” said Douglas Ross, a University of Washington law professor who maintains the bill’s provisions are onerous and unnecessary.
This could be the week when grocery chain Albertsons learns whether it can go ahead and pay $4 billion to its shareholders. The payment was planned when Albertsons and rival Kroger announced they were merging last fall. But the Washington Attorney General’s Office is trying to block payment until the merger is completed. Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
Douglas Ross knows a lot about how antitrust law is applied to tech. He's a professor at the 红桃视频 who specializes in antitrust and class action litigation.
Douglas Ross, professor of law at the UW, comments on the potential merger and what regulators would have to consider.
The cases are part of a new front in antitrust disputes because of the use of an algorithm, said University of Washington law professor Douglas Ross, who specializes in antitrust law. “There’s nothing new or different about saying a group of people got together to raise prices … The way in which they allegedly have agreed to raise prices is interesting,” Ross said. “That helps set this case apart.”
“It’s up to the [retailers] to decide how they want to behave in an effort to get their merger through,” Ross said. “And if they do something which in retrospect might be considered to be foolish, that’s their business. The state doesn’t have the right to stop them from doing something foolish.”
Haggen has “haunted” all subsequent efforts to merge retailers, says attorney Douglas Ross, an antitrust expert at the 红桃视频.
“I wonder if it was a tactical mistake, moving for quick relief like that,” Ross said. “Forcing the PGA to alter its rules to let players play would be a big step for a judge to take. On the other hand, the opinion illustrates—like the rodeo case—the various ways an association can defend itself.”
Douglas Ross, a veteran antitrust attorney who has represented hospitals and teaches antitrust law at the University of Washington, said it’s well established that antitrust enforcers can block mergers if they harm labor market competition. “What’s new is this administration is actively looking for cases where they can make that claim,” he said.
Democrats in Washington state want new authority to block mergers involving faith-based hospitals if those deals would limit abortion access. Douglas Ross, affiliate instructor of law at the UW, is quoted.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Amazon-busting legislation, the “Ending Platform Monopolies Act” that would potentially force the company’s dismantling, has earned Biden administration support, the 7th District Democrat said in an interview with GeekWire. Douglas Ross, affiliate instructor of law at the UW, is quoted.
