Heather Burke

Representative cases include the following:

Defended Gilead in a class action lawsuit relating to Gilead's HIV product portfolio, where plaintiffs alleged that innovative joint ventures, lawful settlements with generics, and the procompetitive development of life-saving products were actually unlawful. The team vigorously defended Gilead's history of innovative collaboration and competition in HIV medicines and secured summary judgment on behalf of Gilead for Plaintiffs' product hopping claims and Plaintiffs' joint venture/collaboration claims, thus dismissing millions in alleged damages.

As one of the lead trial counsel and after a two-week bench trial in Delaware Chancery Court, Heather secured victory for Anthem in its case against Cigna for breach of their merger agreement, which relieved Anthem from paying the US$1.85 billion reverse termination fee.

Successfully defended higher education technology platform, The Common App, against Section 2 monopolization claims brought by rival CollegeNET in the District of Oregon.  The White & Case team was brought in to defend The Common App after CollegeNet successfully appealed a prior ruling to the Ninth Circuit.  Following White & Case’s new motion to transfer and new motion to dismiss which argued no proof of conspiracy, no monopoly power and rapid entry in the market, the case was settled on favourable terms.

Defending Allergan in two class actions regarding the sale of its pharmaceutical drug, Namenda® — a drug used in the treatment of the symptoms of Alzheimer's.

Successfully defeated class certification on behalf of Toshiba in the Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation. The Court refused to certify direct and indirect classes, a rare occurrence in price-fixing cases. This case was shortlisted for the 2018 "Litigation of the Year – Cartel Defence" by Global Competition Review.

As one of the lead trial counsels in United States v. Anthem, Inc. and Cigna Corp, the largest merger ever in the health insurance industry, Heather managed more than 100 depositions in four weeks, coordinated all discovery and pre-trial work with the Department of Justice, led the team's efforts on defending against the government's novel claims of monopsony, and conducted direct and cross-examinations of trial witnesses.

Successfully defended Warner Chilcott against claims of monopolization based on alleged "product hopping" in connection with its sale of Doryx®. In September 2016, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld summary judgment and dismissed claims against branded drug Doryx®, rejecting the claims of product hopping.

Successfully defended Toshiba in civil cases involving allegations of price-fixing of LCD panels. After a six-week trial in the Northern District of California during the summer of 2013 where the plaintiff alleged damages of more than US$2 billion, the jury unanimously found no liability against Toshiba. In an earlier six-week trial during the summer of 2012, the jury found no recoverable damages against Toshiba after the plaintiffs alleged class-wide damages of nearly US$3 billion. The case was named the 2012 "Litigation of the Year" by Global Competition Review, and was recognized by the Financial Times in its US Innovative Lawyers 2012 special report.

Secured a jury verdict in favor of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. in Fair Isaac Corporation v. Equifax, et. al., an action in the District of Minnesota brought by FICO, the dominant provider of consumer credit risk scoring services, against the three major US credit bureaus alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition in the sale of credit scoring services. The jury also found in favor of Experian on its counterclaim that FICO committed fraud on the US Patent and Trademark Office in procuring registration of the trademark in suit.

Represented Experian Information Solutions, Inc. and obtained dismissal of all federal and state antitrust and false advertising claims on summary judgment in an action brought by FICO against the three major US credit-reporting agencies and their joint venture VantageScore.

Successfully defended leading pharmaceutical company in preliminary injunction proceedings challenging FDA approval of a complex drug.