Dive Summary:
- Richard Roberts, a federal judge chosen at random to handle antitrust litigation in the AB InBev-Modelo merger case, happens to be the judge with the slowest turn-around and largest backlog of cases according to federal court data.
- This may delay the AB InBev-Modelo case, and a long trial may cause the deal to wait until after its set "expiration date."
- Although unforeseen, this also helps the U.S. government, the plaintiff of the case, who is trying to break up the deal based on anti-trust legislation.
From the article:
“It helps the Justice Department,” Michael Carrier, an antitrust law professor at Rutgers University, said in an interview. “If they have a judge that is this slow -- and obviously this is something they could not have prepared for -- there’s no doubting this will help the government.”
Delays in the AB InBev case could derail the deal if the litigation pushes past the termination date called for in the sale agreement. The parties have until Dec. 30 to complete the transaction, and may extend it another 90 days if it’s in court. After that, Modelo may be able to walk away with the $650 million breakup fee.